


The Sun's Rising

by Merrymusician



Category: Gravity Falls, Steven Universe (Cartoon)
Genre: Adventure, Angst, Found Family, Gen, Humor, Mystery, Post-Gravity Falls, Post-Steven Universe Future, SUF/GF crossover, all aboard the SUF/GF crossover train cho-chooooooo!, confront your past to see a better future you small children, lets also bond and deal with our past trauma, old enemies will return, secrets to be revealed, together (:
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-07-02
Updated: 2020-10-17
Packaged: 2021-03-05 05:55:42
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 9
Words: 26,874
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25039609
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Merrymusician/pseuds/Merrymusician
Summary: It's just Steven's luck to have his car break down in the middle of the woods. Of course this would happen on his cross-country road trip! But when Stan and Ford offer him a ride to town, Steven has no idea what he will discover in the mysterious Gravity Falls. With Mabel and Dipper, they unravel a new plot that could end the world as they know it (again). Follow the trio's story from their unusual meeting to their inevitable departure, with every wild adventure in between.
Comments: 41
Kudos: 306





	1. Prologue

Chapter 1: Prologue

\------------------------------------

“Shhh! It’s getting closer!” Mabel shushed, slipping back into the cave and pulling Dipper with her. 

“How are we going to get out?” Dipper asked. 

“Good question,” Steven said. He looked around. The cave didn’t extend very far. In the back, a pile of straw lay spread across the floor, the charcoal remains of a small fire close by. There was nothing to hide in, only bare stone and soot. 

“Okay, I have an idea,” Steven said. “I’ll go out there and try to distract him. While I’m doing that, you two go and use Mabel’s grappling hook to get out of the ravine.”

“No way!” Mabel whispered. “We’re not leaving you to that giant!” Dipper nodded his head in agreement, his face determined. Steven smiled.

“Thank you, but I’ve got this,” he said, standing up. He dashed outside before the twins could react, shouting, “Hey Mister, over here!”

The monster’s head whipped around and locked onto Steven, its body completely still. Steven held his hands in the air, giving what he hoped was a friendly smile.

“Hey! Sorry to barge in, but I’m lost,” he said. Steven started to slowly walk away from the entrance, watching as the creature’s head tracked him. “Can you show me the way out of here?”

The beast didn’t speak. Instead, a low growl emanated from the shadowed sun hat. Steven froze. He saw Dipper and Mabel freeze as well, already a few feet away from the entrance. He needed to keep distracting it.

“I get it. I’m intruding into your space! You have every right to be angry,” Steven continued, trying to keep its attention on him. The growling continued. “I just need to find my way out and I’ll be out of you, uh, fur.”

Steven jumped as the monster started to step closer to him. The guttural growl simmered, then sputtered out as the creature stood before him. Steven gulped, catching a glimpse of Dipper and Mabel at the edge of the ravine, the grappling hook poised. Dipper waved for him to follow, but Steven could only focus on the bug screen that was suddenly in front of his face. 

The creature snuffed loudly, it’s hot breath touching Steven’s nose.

“N-nice to meet you! My name is Steven!” Steven stammered, trying not to make any sudden movements. “What’s yours?”

The creature stared at him, his snarl fading into a more neutral expression. Steven waited, but was only met with silence. Just as he was about to come up with something else to say, it spoke—

\------------------------------------

_Geez, sorry about that. I don’t know why Mabel didn’t rewind the tape. Just give me a second to rewind this._

_…_

_..._

_...Sooooo, you wanted to watch my adventures in Gravity Falls, huh?_

_It was really fun! But also really scary sometimes. I just drove by while taking my cross-country road trip, and it ended up being this whole “save the world” thing again, haha..._

_I would have never guessed there was gem stuff in Oregon, and who would have thought that_ **_those things_ ** _would have tried to use it?_

_Ah, I’m getting ahead of myself. Wouldn’t want to spoil the story, right?_

_Oh! The tape’s ready!_

_…_

_Don’t be shy, take a seat and start from the beginning._

_Me? My name’s Steven, Steven Universe._

\------------------------------------


	2. Chapter 2

Chapter 2

\------------------------------------

Steven’s Pacific Northwest adventure wasn’t going well.

Steven opened his phone, only to sigh in exasperation at the sight of the “No Signal” sign in the corner of the screen. He shoved his phone back into his pocket, unbuckling his seatbelt as he stepped out of his car. The door still open, he pressed the button to pop up the hood of the car, then went to the front to inspect the damage. Everything looked in order; no smoke, no dripping fluids… just a layer of grime along the top of the engine. 

Steven went back to the drivers seat, stuck his keys in the ignition, and tried to start it again. The engine turned with a quick _chik-chik-chik_ but quickly went silent. He tried again, but the engine refused to start. Steven groaned and slouched in his seat. Great. He was now stranded in the middle of nowhere with no cell signal. Just great. His nose scrunched with frustration as he stepped out of the car again. One hand on the door, he surveyed his surroundings.

Tall evergreen trees stretched into the evening sky, their pointed tops directing his gaze to the stars starting to shimmer into existence. Steven’s little sedan stood parked on the side of a rough-looking, two laned highway with faded paint. Steven couldn’t see a single street light, with only a ragged set of power lines hinting at civilization down the road. He sighed and pulled out his phone, glaring at the lack of bars.

“I’ll have to walk until I get a signal…” Steven murmured aloud, looking unhappily at the long highway. Steven shook his head against his own negativity. “I’ve survived through worse. I’ll get a signal in no time!” 

With some more energy, Steven grabbed his duffle bag, shut the hood, and locked his car. Then he started walking.

Only twenty or so minutes had gone by when Steven heard the sound of a car engine behind him. He turned around, quickly spotting the headlights of an approaching vehicle. A person! Someone who could help him!

“Hey! Over here!” Steven shouted as he waved his arms at the approaching car. The old station wagon slowed as it neared Steven, and he moved away from the road to give it room to pull over. The car pulled up beside the teen, and the passenger window rolled down to reveal an old man with thick glasses.

“Hey kid, you lost or something?” the man asked in a gravelly voice. The man had a large, red nose with even larger ears, with a black beanie covering his grey hair.

“My uh, car broke down,” Steven explained sheepishly, rubbing the back of his neck.

“Was that your car parked on the side of the road back there?” another voice asked. 

Steven leaned down to see further inside the car. He pulled a double take; there were TWO of the same man in the car! The man in the driver’s seat looked exactly like the first man; they both had square jawlines, round noses, and slate grey hair.

“Don’t be surprised,” the first old man said. “The name’s Stan, and this is my brother, Ford.”

Steven blushed. He had seen so many strange things in his life but a pair of twins surprised him? Man, he needed to get out more. 

“I’m Steven, Steven Universe. Roadtripper extraordinaire!” he said with a cheeky smile. “Yep, that was my car. I was trying to find a signal for my phone to call a tow truck, but there’s no service out here.”

“I’m not surprised,” the second man—Ford—said with a shake of his head. “Cellular signals are terrible out here for...various reasons. A landline is your best bet.”

The man in the passenger's seat—Stan—looked Steven up and down and then glanced at his brother with a look of deliberation. Ford noticed and gave Steven another look as well, before giving Stan a small nod. 

“You need a ride to town?” Stan offered. “You’ll be able to call a mechanic there, no sweat.”

“Really?” Steven said, surprised. “I mean, yes! Thank you!”

“Sure, kid. Hop in the backseat.”

Steven pulled open the heavy car door and slid into the back seat. The old leather seats were cool to the touch, the smell of pine drifting from the tree-shaped air freshener hanging from the rearview mirror. Ford pulled away from the gravel and back onto the highway. 

Steven set his duffle bag into the seat next to him and pulled out his phone, glancing up at the strangers as he checked his signal again. Getting into a car with people he didn’t know was risky, but Steven wasn’t dumb. He was 17 years old and had saved the world on multiple occasions—he could handle two old men if things went south. He also really, really did not want to hike through the night without knowing where the next town was….

“So what are you doing out here in the middle of nowhere?” Ford asked to fill the silence. 

“Oh!” Steven started out of his thoughts at the sudden question. “I’m traveling across the country.”

“By yourself?” Ford said. “You don’t look old enough to be out on your own.”

“Hey! I’m almost eighteen!” Steven said with mock indignation. 

Stan barked out a laugh, slapping his knee in mirth. He turned around, saying, “Seventeen, eh? I was that age when I set out on my own!”

“Yes, but _you_ were not a normal seventeen-year-old,” Ford scoffed with a smile on his face. His eyes glanced at Steven through the rearview mirror. “Normal seventeen-year-olds don’t go out on their own, not anymore.” 

Steven laughed, but it quickly subsided into a wistful smile. “It’s a long story,” he said, his eyes watching the passing trees. “But basically, I’ve never really left my hometown for more than a couple of days. I felt like it was time to get out there and really see everything, you know?” 

“Aaah, to be young and fearless,” Stan said, nostalgia lining his voice. He turned forward and placed his hands behind his head, eyes closing with memories. “Driving through the states with no set destination in mindㅡthat’s the life, I tell ya.”

“Speaking of destinations, what town are we going to?” Steven asked.

“A little town called Gravity Falls,” Ford answered. 

“Home of the Mystery Shack!” Stan added with a dramatic sweep of his arms. 

“The Mystery Shack?” Steven repeated, curious. “What’s that?”

“It’s a tourist tra—I mean, a roadside attraction filled with weird and strange items that I used to own!” Stan said with excitement. Steven snickered. He totally almost said _tourist trap_ , didn’t he? 

“I retired last year, but it’s still running under the direction of my old handyman,” Stan continued. “We’re headed back to stay for the summer and see our grand-niece and -nephew.” The old man’s eyes lit up with an idea. “You should stop by with us! There’s a landline you could use—plus, you could get a tour of the shack!”

“Oh Stan, I’m sure he would rather use the phone at the cafe or some other public place,” Ford said sensibly. 

“I don—” 

“Cafe, _shmafe_ ,” Stan said, cutting Steven off. “At least our phone doesn’t smell like grease!”

“It _is_ called ‘Greasy’s Diner,’” Ford laughed. 

“The Mystery Shack sounds cool,” Steven interjected. The name _Mystery Shack_ intrigued him. It sounded just like the tacky, bigfoot-centered shopping opportunity any Pacific Northwest adventure needed. “As long as I can make some calls, I’m fine wherever.” 

“Great!” Stan shouted. “Mystery Shack, here we come!”

\------------------------------------

It wasn’t long before small, homemade signs started to appear with words like “Wonders and Abnormalities: Only at the Mystery Shack!” and “The Mystery Shack: We Put the FUN in No ReFUNds!!” Steven’s eyes shined with excitement; this place was definitely a tacky tourist trap. _I hope they have mothman t-shirts,_ he thought shamelessly.

The winding drive seemed to go on endlessly into the woods, and for a moment Steven wondered if the old man had taken a wrong turn. Just as the thought crossed his mind, the trees suddenly parted into a large, moonlit clearing. 

“Whoa,” Steven said.

A huge, triangular shaped cabin loomed in the clearing. Two large signs sat atop the steeply sloping roof, one reading “MYSTERY” in black, hand-painted letters, the other with the word “SHACK” placed upon it in red wooden letters. A smaller, house-shaped gift shop protruded from the side of the cabin, with a question mark shaped weather vane rising above a “GIFT” sign. ( _Wait, aren’t weather vanes supposed to have N-E-S-W as their letters, not W-A-T-H?)_ The entire structure was bathed in a silver sheen except for the yellow lights pouring out of the windows of the gift shop. 

Steven couldn’t help but be entranced by the oddㅡehem, _mysterious_ ㅡbuilding. It simply screamed Pacific Northwest adventure. He barely noticed the car stopping to park in the gravel and only took his eyes off the building when he heard Stan opening the car door next to him. 

“Come on kid, you gonna stare at the place all night or come inside?” Stan asked with an almost smug grin. Steven laughed and unbuckled his seatbelt before grabbing his duffle and following the two older men to the gift shop. Steven felt excitement coursing through him; yeah it was a tourist trap, but he had never been to one that looked so _authentic_. A “Sorry, we’re closed!” sign hung in the window of the doorway despite the warm lights glowing behind it. Ford went to knock but paused at the sight of a HELP WANTED sign taped to the wood portion of the door. 

“Hey Soos!” Stan shouted, too impatient to wait for Ford to knock. “It’s me! Open the door!” 

_Soos? What’s a Soos?_ Steven thought.

A tall shadow quickly approached the door, which was unlocked with the faintest _click_. The door opened to reveal a large man in his early twenties dressed in a t-shirt and cargo shorts. To complete the casual outfit, the man had a bright red fez covering most of his dusty brown hair. 

“Mr. Pines! Mr. Ford! Kid I don’t know!” he exclaimed with a buck-toothed grin. “It’s so good to see you guys!” He jumped forward and enveloped Stan into a bone crushing hug.

“Yeah, yeah, alright,” Stan muttered while awkwardly patting the man’s back, but Steven noticed how he couldn’t hide the smallest of smiles. The man finally released Stan, who brushed off his shirt and pretended the hug wasn’t that big of a deal. Stan cleared his throat and gestured to Steven. “Soos, this is Steven. Steven, Soos.”

“It’s nice to meet you, unfamiliar teenager,” Soos said sincerely while tipping his fez to Steven. Steven smiled back as they filed their way into the gift shop. “Where did you come from?”

“I’m from Beach City, a town along the East Coast,” Steven answered.

“Hi Stan! Hi Ford andㅡoh? Who’s this?”

They all turned to the source of the voice, a woman standing behind the cash register. She had a round, happy face and wavy brown hair tied back in a low ponytail. 

“Melody! It’s good to see you,” Ford said. “This is Steven. We picked him up on our way into town.”  
  
“My car broke down,” Steven added with a touch of sheepishness. 

“Oh that sucks!” Melody exclaimed while placing a sympathetic hand on her chest. “Cars never break down when it’s convenient.”

“They _know_ ,” Soos added seriously, side-eyeing a pickup truck through the window. 

“You still need that phone, correct?” Ford asked Steven as he started walking towards a door marked “Employees Only.” Without waiting for Steven to answer, he turned to Melody and said, “Is the phone still back here?”

“Yeah, it’s right where you left it,” Melody answered while pointing in Ford’s direction. Ford gave a thumbs up and slipped behind the door. Steven followed Ford as Stan started talking with the others. The teen peered into the darkened room, lit only by a large, 70s style lamp set above a dining table. Ford stepped out of the gloom, a wireless landline phone in his left hand. 

“Here you go, Steven,” Ford said as he handed Steven the phone. “I’ll be out there with the others.”

“Thank you!” Steven called out as Ford left the room. 

Steven examined the blue, plastic phone in his hand, his fingers glossing over the weirdly squishy buttons. It had been years since he had used a landline. Come to think of it, he hadn’t used one since they rebuilt the beach house (Pearl thought it was silly to add the landline back in since she and Steven had _cell_ phones). He smiled with brief nostalgia before punching in his dad’s phone number. The line picked up after only two rings.

“Hello, this is Mr. Universe,” his dad answered. 

“Hi dad! It’s me, Steven.” 

“Steven! How you doin’ Stewball? Why aren’t you calling me from your cell phone?”

“Things are fine, and I’m perfectly okay, buuuuuut…” Steven sighed. “My car broke down in the middle of the woods.”

“Uh oh, how did that happen?”

“I don’t know… I was driving along like normal when suddenly the engine started to cut out. Every time I tried pressing the gas all the lights started flashing and the engine would stall…”

“I’m sure it’s fixable buddy,” his dad comforted. “You need me to send you some money for the repairs? I wouldn’t want my kiddo stuck out inㅡwait, where are you again?”

“I’m inㅡuhhhㅡGravity Falls, Oregon.”

“Huh, never heard of it.”

“Me neither,” Steven said, scratching the back of his head. “A-and don’t worry about sending any money. I need to figure out what the problem with the car is first.”

“Okay Steven, just let me know. Are you gonna be okay for the night? It’s pretty late already.”

“Yeah, I’ll be okay. Some nice people gave me a lift to town and let me use their phone, I bet they can show me a place to stay.”

“Alright, just be careful!”

“I will dad, I promise. Don’t forget that I’ve been travelling for almost four months now!” Steven said proudly. Mr. Universe laughed, sounding small and tinney through the phone speaker. 

“That’s right, my boy’s a full grown man now!” he chuckled. “Well, call me if you do need anything, okay?”

“I will,” Steven said. “Could you also let the Gems know what’s going on? I don’t want them to try to call me when I don’t have signal.”

“Sure thing kiddo. What about Connie?”

“I’ll text her as soon as I find some WiFi.”

“I don’t know how that works, but okay!”

“Okay, I should probably get going. I’ll call you later, okay?”

“Sounds good, I’ll talk to you later!”

“Alright, bye,” Steven said as he hung up the phone. 

Steven quickly checked the time on his cell phone: 10:32 PM. He threw his head back dramatically as he groaned in frustration. Any mechanic would be closed by now, so he would have to wait until tomorrow to get any headway on his car situation. He placed the phone back in it’s charging station with a sigh, shoved his hands in his pockets, then went back to join the others. 

“What’s the verdict, Steven?” Ford said.

“I let my folks know I’m alright, but I won’t be able to get a tow done this late,” Steven said. He forced a small smile when everyone gave him a sympathetic look. “It’ll be alright! I just need to find a place to stay the night. I usually crash in my car, but it looks like I’ll need to find a motel...”

“Oh I know a place, dude!” Soos said excitedly. “It’s called the Flamingo Motel. It has free cable, dinner service… and everything’s pink!”

“Ugh, and they have free roaches too, Soos,” Stan said with a shudder. 

Steven noticed Melody fidgeting behind the counter, her brow furrowed as she seemed to debate something internally. “You know…” she piped up. “If it’s okay with you guys, you could let him stay on the couch bed here.” Ford and Stan looked at her as if she had grown two heads, but Soos gasped with a grin.

“That’s a great idea, dudette!” he exclaimed.

“Hold your horses, what ‘couch bed’?” Stan interrupted. “What happened to my chair?”

“I uh… tossed it when we cleaned out everything last winter,” Melody admitted. 

“What?!” Stan shouted. “That chair was older than you! It hasn’t moved since I brought it here! How could you?!”

Steven raised his hands in a placating motion, unsure how to react with the bickering adults or the offer that Melody proposed. Sure, staying in a strangers house (store? shack?) wasn’t exactly the safest option, but he really didn’t want to bother his dad for hotel money. He also really, really, _really_ wanted to make it through this cross country trip on his own, without having to rely on his dad or the Gems. He wanted to prove he could do things as an adult, darn it! Steven felt the blood rush to his cheeks as his emotions swelled, the barest hint of a pink aura starting to shimmer around his fingers. He froze at the sight of it, quickly putting a mental lid on his emotions. The shimmer winked out of existence, and Steven prayed none of the others had seen it. 

“Oh Stan, give it a rest already!” Ford spoke up, quieting the argument. “We’ve been driving for eight hours and I’m too tired to deal with your missing chair.” He turned to Steven, making the teen jump to attention.

“Steven, you’re free to stay the night,” he said matter-of-factly. “I don’t mind as long as I get some sleep soon.”

Steven hesitated, thoughts tumbling back to his previous dilemma. One night wouldn’t hurt, right? It would just be for tonight.

“I would be very grateful,” Steven said sincerely.

“It’s fine with me kid, just don’t be offended if I lock you in the living room,” Stan said with a good natured grin. 

Steven laughed, a warmth blossoming in his chest. These people were odd, but they felt kind in their own, weird way. Maybe his Pacific Northwest adventure was going to go well after all. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Woo-hoo! All aboard the SUF/GF crossover train! Sorry if the intro is a bit long, but you gotta set the scene, right? Prepare to see Dipper and Mabel (and Waddles!) in the next chapter!
> 
> I'm gonna try a regular updating schedule this time around. I'll update on Mondays and we'll see how that works out :D
> 
> Thanks for reading! Leave a kudos or a comment if you can, even if its just "nice" lol see ya Monday


	3. Chapter 3

Chapter 3

\------------------------------------

 _Everything was pain. His limbs, his body, his head, his_ heart _—his entire being ached. He wailed in anguish, his anger overflowing, rushing out with a destructive force. Buildings came crashing down, the landscape scarred, people screaming, running—_

“No!”

Steven woke, his breathing ragged and sweat running down his face. He looked around frantically for a moment, the dream caught like cobwebs on his mind. _It’s okay, it’s okay. I’m not there, I’m not_ that _...._

“I’m Steven,” he whispered to himself. “I’m… I’m in Gravity Falls. I’m here, in a couch bed. I’m me.”

Steven slowly released his death grip on the bedsheets, taking deep breaths as he tried to calm his racing heart. _Remember to breathe… focus on reality._

Steven rubbed his eyes, taking in the quaint living room he had woken up in. He sat on a surprisingly comfortable couch bed, the end nearly touching the ancient TV set up against the opposite wall. He reached over and touched the (fake?) dinosaur skull being used as a side table, the yellowing lace draped across the top soft against his fingertips. An empty aquarium stood next to it, it’s water drained and light turned off. Weak, morning light bathed the room from a doorway to his left. 

Steven took one more deep breath, his heart calm. _Well, so much for sleeping_. He pulled the sheets and blankets away and got off the couch bed, trying to think of anything but the nightmare. He peered into the doorway, spotting a small kitchen to his right and a steep set of stairs to his left. He quickly went into the kitchen and found a clean glass to fill with water. The teen drank a glass and a half before he came back up for air. 

A bell jingled from the gift shop, and the sound of murmured voices and soft footfall seeped into the kitchen. _Is that Soos and Melody from yesterday? Maybe they’re here to open the shop._ The voices became louder as they approached the living room door, which unlocked and was thrown open with a _bang!_ Steven jumped, nearly dropping his cup in fright.

“GRUNKLE STAN! GRUNKLE FORD! We’re heeeeeeeere!” 

Steven slowly approached the living room, silently peeking around the doorway. A boy and a girl entered with suitcases in tow. Based on their matching brown hair and similar age, Steven thought they must be siblings. _Twins? Again?_ The boy wore a blue and white baseball cap that Steven recognized from the gift shop, and he was struggling to remove his key from the previously locked living room door. The girl wore a hot pink sweater _—_ in the summer heat for some reason _—_ with a smiling sun decal on the front. Steven couldn’t really see the whole design due to the large pink pig she was carrying in her arms. 

“Mabel, I don’t think screaming their names will get them to come down here,” the boy scolded, whispering _yes!_ under his breath as he freed the key from the door. 

“Oh Dipper, you underestimate the power of my—” Mabel’s eyes suddenly locked on to Steven. “—wait who is that?”

Steven froze as both of them finally saw him standing in the doorway. He was in his pajamas in a strangers house. This could go very wrong if he didn’t explain himself.

“Uh, hi—”

“AHHH!” they both screamed, scrambling back towards the dining table. Yep, things were already going terribly.

“Intruder!!” Mable shouted. She lifted the pig up and tossed him onto the bed. “Waddles, attack!”

“Ah!” Steven cried out as he caught the pig, who dutifully sniffed him with an adorable _oink_. He set the pig on the floor. “No, wait, this is a misunderstanding!”

“That’s exactly what an intruder would say!” Dipper shouted back. He turned and grabbed the phone off the table, preparing to dial an emergency number. “Grunkle Ford! Grunkle Stan!”

“Please, my name’s Steven and—ah!” Steven dodged back onto the floor as something flew past his face. He looked above himself in shock to see a _grappling hook_ embedded into the wall. The girl, Mabel, wielded it angrily from her position at the dining table. _Thank god I trained last year, or else she would have nailed me!_

“Don’t move!” she threatened. “I won’t miss next time!”

“Now what in the ninety-six dimensions is going on here?”

All three of them turned to see Ford standing in the doorway, arms full of groceries. Steven sighed with relief.

“Grunkle Ford!” Dipper exclaimed at the sight of him. He and Mabel both ran to stand behind him. “There’s an intruder in the house!”

“He’s come to steal the Mystery Shack secrets!” Mabel added. Ford sighed loudly.

“No, he’s not an intruder, he’s a guest,” the older man explained. The twins looked up at him in confusion. “Dipper, Mabel, this is Steven. His car broke down, so we let him stay the night. Steven, this is Dipper and Mabel, my great-nephew and great-niece.”

“Oh,” Dipper said. A dial tone emanated from the phone and he swiftly hit _end_.

“Oh,” Mabel repeated as she stepped out from hiding. 

Steven laughed, standing up. “It’s okay. Sorry I spooked you guys,” he said. He carefully picked up the pig, who was snuffling his feet, and carried him to the other side of the couch bed. “Here’s your pig back.”

“Waddles!” Mabel cried as she bent down and immediately wrapped her arms around the pig’s neck. “You’re a terrible attack pig, you know that?”

“Waddles? That’s such a cute name!” Steven said with a grin, crouching down to pet Waddle’s head. 

“It’s perfect, right?” Mabel fawned. “He just waddles around like he’s the cutest pig in the world—which he is by the way.”

“Do you waddle? Do you waddle?” Steven cooed, petting Waddle with both hands now. Waddles oinked and flopped onto his side, enjoying the supreme belly-rubs. 

“Well, I’m going to start breakfast,” Ford announced. He scooted around the pig petting session towards the kitchen, calling out behind him, “Give me a hand, Dipper!”

“Coming!” Dipper replied. He briefly scrutinized Steven before following Ford into the kitchen. Steven felt a little hurt at the suspicious look; he didn’t look _that_ shady, did he?

“You’re lucky your car broke down near Gravity Falls,” Mabel said, drawing Steven out of his thoughts. “This place is _amazing_!”

“Amazing? Amazing how?” Steven said, genuinely curious.

“It’s full of all kinds of weird stuff,” Mabel bragged with a grin.

“Do you guys have Mothman or something around here?” Steven joked. _Now that would make a Pacific Northwest adventure._

Mabel stroked her chin in thought for a moment, closing her eyes as if to remember something. “No, no Mothman here. I don’t remember seeing him last summer,” she said.

Steven laughed, but trailed off as a charred scent drifted into the room.

“Do you smell something burning?” Steven asked.

“Our breakfast!” Mabel gasped. She jumped up and grabbed Steven’s hand, pulling him to the kitchen. 

Ford stood by the stove, a pan of smoking eggs in front of him. Dipper sat at the table, mixing pancake batter in a bowl. Both seemed unperturbed by the burnt scent wafting from the eggs. 

“Grunkle Ford, you’re burning the eggs,” Mabel pointed out. 

“What are you talking about? These eggs are—” Mabel took the spatula out of Ford’s hand and flipped the scrambled eggs over, revealing the blackened bottom, “—only a little burnt.”

“You guys are hopeless,” Mabel said, taking the offending eggs and dumping them in the trash.

“ _You’re_ one to talk,” Dipper said as he gave the batter another stir. “You like to use glitter and plastic dinosaurs in your cooking.”

“I’m underappreciated in my time,” Mabel said with a shake of her head. 

“I can help cook,” Steven offered. “Not to brag, but breakfast is kind of my specialty.” Ford put his hands up in surrender and stepped aside. Mabel helped Steven find a bowl and fork, and Steven started whisking a fresh batch of eggs. Dipper, satisfied with the consistency of the batter, turned the stove on and began cooking the pancakes.

The kitchen was quiet except for the gentle hiss of the pancakes and the sound of Steven’s spatula scraping against his skillet. Mabel filled the silence as she started catching up with Ford, but Steven couldn’t help but notice how stiff Dipper looked. The boy seemed focused on the pancakes, but he kept stealing glances at Steven when he thought the teen wasn’t looking. _This is awkward_.

“Sooooo… do you guys visit here every summer?” Steven asked, trying to dispel the tense atmosphere between them with some friendly conversation. Dipper stared at him for a moment, obviously still suspicious of the older teen. 

“Yeah, it’s a tradition we started last summer,” Dipper answered as he turned back toward the pancakes. “Our parents sent us here last summer to get some fresh air, but it turns out we liked it a lot more than we thought we would.” 

“That’s cool!” Steven said. “I wish my dad had sent me out somewhere new as a kid. I was so wrapped up in everything at home, it never really crossed my mind to go see other places.”

“Where are you from?” Dipped asked, flipping another pancake. 

“Beach City, along the east coast,” Steven said. He gave the eggs a vigorous stir. “I’m road-tripping across the country. It’s been awesome so far, but I was hoping to see some cryptids out here, not have my car break down.”

“Maybe the cryptids _made_ your car break down,” Mabel interjected. 

“I’d like to find the cryptid that broke my engine and ask for his insurance,” Steven bantered back, shaking his spatula in mock anger. Mabel laughed in that polite way when you don’t get the joke, but Ford gave a hearty chuckle. 

“I smell breakfast, which one of you kids is gonna make my plate?”

They turned to see Stan entering the kitchen, all sweatpants and bleary eyes in his old man glory. 

“Grunkle Stan!” Mabel and Dipper shouted as they ran over to him, immediately trapping him in a double hug. Stan enveloped each of them with one arm, a wide grin on his face. 

“Hey kids, welcome back,” he greeted. “Now get off of me, I have some grub to get.”

The twins released him and returned to their spots in the kitchen. Steven put his now finished (and not burnt) scrambled eggs onto a large plate and Dipper finished off the last pancake. Mabel grabbed some paper plates out of the cabinet and everyone fixed themselves a serving of breakfast. While the Pines family filled up the small kitchen table, Steven chose to eat at the counter due to the lack of chairs. 

Steven watched in silence as Stan teased Dipper about joining the robotics club and Mabel chatted about a new friend she had made since last year. _I guess this is what normal people do when you cook breakfast_. As much as the Gems loved him and took care of him, Steven never really had the chance to have a “normal” breakfast with his family. He’s had breakfast with his dad and other people of course, but it was nothing like the good-natured teasing and overlapping of voices that filled the small kitchen here. It was nice.

“It’s 9 o’clock. You should be able to call the mechanic now, Steven,” Ford said.

Steven blinked as he realized he and everyone else had finished their breakfast. When did that happen? Noticing he had yet to answer Ford, he said, “That’s a good idea.”

Ford fished a piece of paper and an old fountain pen out of his pockets and scribbled down a phone number before handing it to Steven. “That’s the mechanic’s number. They should be able to tow it into town.”

“Thanks, I’ll take care of this really quick,” Steven said, taking the scrap of paper with him to the landline in the other room. 

As soon as Steven left the kitchen, Dipper turned to his grunkles and said in a hushed tone, “Why are we letting a complete stranger stay with us again?”

“What? You think I’m heartless enough to leave a seventeen-year-old on the side of the road? I’m offended!” Stan said.

“It’s only until he gets his car fixed, Dipper,” Ford added. “He seems trustworthy, and he’s only a few years older than you. Maybe you guys will get along.”

“I’ll take that challenge!” Mabel said cheerfully. Dipper scowled in response. 

“Fine, but I’m not trusting him yet,” Dipper said. 

“Looks like they’ll be able to tow it back today, but they said it may take a while for them to get to repairing it,” Steven reported as he entered back into the kitchen. 

“Typical Mike, can’t repair anything fast,” Stan complained. Steven shrugged, used to mechanics taking their time. As Steven started to clean up the remains of his breakfast, Ford had an idea.

“Why don’t you two get settled in and then show Steven around the Mystery Shack?” he suggested. 

“Gasp! Yes!” Mabel said as she jumped out of her chair. “Race you upstairs, Dipper!” She dashed out of the kitchen to grab her suitcase. 

“Hey! No fair!” Dipper called, chasing after her. 

Steven laughed as the siblings ran upstairs with their suitcases (and one pig), barely able to contain his own excitement. _I wonder what they’ve got here,_ he thought as he went to get ready for the day. 

Steven got showered and dressed, making sure to put up the couch bed and secure all his clothes into his duffle bag before making his way to the gift shop. The gift shop was open, with two elderly customers and Melody walking about. Melody said hello as he entered, then turned back to the older gentleman she was helping. She and Soos must have opened while they were getting ready. 

With no sign of Dipper or Mabel yet, Steven started perusing the wares of the shop. He browsed a large rack of question mark t-shirts, shook some bigfoot-themed snow globes, then found himself looking through a spinnable rack of postcards. Pictures of all sorts of strange creatures and places decorated the postcards: a rock with a human face, a visibly fake wolfman _(...Dipper?)_ , a disembodied hand, and… Steven picked up one titled, “The Bottomless Pit.” A large, black sink hole stared at him from the card, but what caught his attention was the Mystery Shack looming in the background. A local attraction maybe?

Steven’s thoughts were interrupted as he felt someone approach him from behind. _Quick! React!_ his nerves shouted. Steven shook his head ever so slightly, suppressing the urge to turn and fight. He turned around just like any normal person would do, to find Mabel’s smiling face.

“What ‘cha got there?” she asked as she approached, pointing to the card held tightly in Steven’s hand. 

“This?” Steven waved the postcard, forcing a smile. “Just browsing the attractions.”

“The Bottomless Pit, huh?” 

Steven jumped as Dipper appeared next to the checkout counter.

“Y-yeah, I noticed the Mystery Shack in the background,” Steven said. “Were you… hiding back there?”

“What? Pft, no,” Dipper lied, trying (and failing) to look casual. “Anyways, you’ve got a good eye. That’s one of the few real attractions around here.” Steven could tell that Dipper was trying to change the subject off his spying, but he decided to let it slide since he was so curious about the Bottomless Pit. 

“Is it actually bottomless?” Steven asked, looking back at the postcard. “Because that would be awesome.”

“Uh, duh, that’s why it’s called that, silly,” Mabel teased. “There’s weirder stuff than that here, though!”

“Do you wanna see it?” Dipper asked. “I’ve been meaning to take some updated notes on it.” 

The boy reached into his vest to pull out a leather-bound journal. The book was compact enough to slip into a large pocket, and the front cover was decorated with a gold pine tree symbol similar to the one on Dipper’s hat. Dipper flipped through the thick tome, where hand-scribbled notes and drawings flashed by Steven’s eyes, stopping at a page only half-full of ink. He turned the book outwards so that they could see the title “The Bottomless Pit” followed by a rough sketch of the sinkhole and a few scattered notes. “I’m gonna take new notes on everything around here. Call it a hobby.”

“Wow, you did all of this yourself?” Steven said, flipping a few pages back. Strange creatures and phenomena stared at him from the journal, the few pages written in only half filled with notes like the Bottomless Pit page. “This is so cool!”

“Oh this? I-It’s nothing, really,” Dipper stammered modestly, a small smile tugging at his lips as he put the book away. 

“Well, what are we waiting for?” Mabel said. She turned towards the exit, one hand on her hip and one hand pointed forward. “Adventure here we come!”

\------------------------------------

Turns out that adventure was only two minutes from the shack. 

“Woooooah,” Steven said as he crouched at the edge of the Bottomless Pit. It looked less like a sinkhole and more like a bottomless chasm in person. The inky blackness stretched into nothingness, no matter how hard or long Steven stared. 

“Could you hold this?” Dipper asked, handing Steven the end of a measuring tape. 

“Sure,” Steven said, taking the end and placing it against the edge of the sinkhole. Dipper moved carefully around the edge of the pit until he was directly across from Steven, where he bent down to measure the diameter of the circle. “Shouldn’t there be a safety rail? What if someone falls in?”

“It’s not a _real_ bottomless pit,” Mabel answered. She sat in between the two boys next to a goat, her feet dangling into the abyss. “You can fall in, but it’ll just spit you back out. Isn’t that right, Gompers?” The goat gave her a half-hearted _baaa_ , trying to eat a stone off the ground. She grabbed the rock he was trying to snack on and tossed it in. 

“I think it’s actually a wormhole at the bottom,” Dipper said as he retracted the measuring tape. “You fall and you fall, but after a while—” the square rock popped out of the pit and into the air. “—You go through the wormhole and it flings you out. The rebound time is a lot shorter now...” Dipper trailed off as he added more notes to his journal. 

“That’s awesome!” Steven exclaimed, standing up in excitement. A real wormhole?! Thoughts of science fiction movies and space travel flashed into Steven’s mind, but all of them trickled down to the various gem tech he had encountered in the years. Maybe it _was_ old gem tech?

“You said that you could go in, right?” Steven said. 

“Sure but we haven’t tried since last sum—wait!” Dipper cried out, but Steven had already jumped into the darkness. 

“Woo-hoo! Go Steven!” Mabel’s voice echoed from above before being swallowed up by the sound of rushing air. Steven watched as the circular cut of the sky winked out of existence, plunging him into complete darkness. He pulled up his shirt, allowing his gem to glow to give him some light. He fell down, down, down, with no sign of stopping. 

“Hello?” he called out. “Are there any gems down here?” He waited, but only silence answered him. With no answer, Steven changed the angle of his fall, seeking a wall to examine. Yet, no matter which direction he fell towards or how far he moved, the sides of the cavern could not be reached.

“Weird, did the edges disappear?” Steven mused out loud. He attempted to activate his weightlessness, but the air rushed past him at the same speed. “I can’t slow down either. Maybe…”

Steven closed his eyes and allowed his powers to flare up, a bright pink aura surrounding his body. His fingertips prickled with pins and needles, and his now pink eyes flashed open as there was a sudden tug in his gut. 

“Wait, what’s happening?” he whispered, eyes drawn to a glimmer below his feet. Blue, crystalline light blazed below him, the familiar color of the gem warp gates back home. Steven approached the disk of light fast, too fast. “Whoa! I can’t stop!” Steven threw up his shields and braced for impact. His small form rushed to the disk of light, coming closer and closer until—he plunged directly through it.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Oh. My. God. It was so hard to put together the layout of the house at first. I could only find fan layouts. Apparently, Alex Hirsch doesn't have an official layout of the place since the shack is supposed to feel mysterious and ever changing! 
> 
> What do you think of Mabel and Dipper? Not gonna lie, I LOVED writing the introduction scene. 
> 
> See ya next Monday, leave a kudos or a comment if you can <3


	4. Chapter 4

Chapter 4

\------------------------------------

Steven slowly opened his eyes, and gasped at the sight before him. Secured within his bubble, Steven floated in a large chamber filled with water. The metallic room teemed with sea life, fish swimming about and algae covering every surface. Steven was the only source of light, his pink glow casting gloomy shadows across the room. Rows of terminals stood in the front half of the room with strangely shaped pillars scattered between them. Their shadows danced eerily in the darkness as Steven pushed his bubble closer. A giant, cracked screen sat on the front wall, half of it blown away to reveal a gaping hole. Steven drifted closer to the terminals to investigate, but recoiled in horror at the sight before him. 

Beneath a layer of algae, the strange, twisting pillars weren’t pillars at all. 

They were gems. 

They stood frozen in stone, their faces a mask of terror and fear, their arms held up in defense. They were everywhere, some still desperately working their terminal while others stood mid-run as they attempted to escape. Steven felt sick to his stomach; who could have done this?

“Something awful happened here,” he whispered to himself, his diamond eyes drawn to the giant hole in the wall. Hands pressed against his bubble, Steven pushed himself closer to one of the petrified gems. Her raised hands had crumbled into nothing, large cracks running through her algae-covered form. Where her gem once stood on her forehead was now a circular indentation, as if it had shattered and fallen out of the statue. Steven’s heart ached; these gems were long gone. He could do nothing to help them. 

He turned back towards the warp gate, unable to look at their frightened forms a moment longer. Steven’s hairs stood on end as a flash of orange light lit up the darkened room. He spotted a second warp gate opposite of the one he had entered from. It spat electric charge, bubbles hissing around it as it’s colors morphed between teal, purple, pink, and green. Curious, Steven drew closer. 

The warp gate flashed again, this time green, and Steven spotted a small rock tumble to the floor. Looking down, he suddenly noticed piles upon piles of small, oddly shaped rocks encircling the gate. Steven pushed his bubble downwards, careful not to stray into the gate’s warp field. Peering closer, each rock was a different geometrical shape. Octagons, triangles, squares, and more littered the ground. As the portal flashed and spit out another rock, the teal light revealed tiny inscriptions on the stones. 

Steven’s mind whirled with a million questions, questions he couldn’t answer in the middle of the ocean with a limited air supply. He needed to get back to Mabel and Dipper to try and figure this out. Thinking quickly, he bubbled a stone and drew it into his own bubble. The teen popped the bubble, grimacing as sea water wet his flip flops, and shoved the rock into his pocket. He gave the room one last glance before propelling himself into the warp gate that would take him back.

Steven’s bubble popped as he was flung into a dark abyss once more. The air rushed around him as if he was still falling downwards, but Steven could see light growing fast above him. Remembering that he was supposed to come back out of the pit, Steven deactivated his powers just as he breached the surface. 

“Oop, there he is!”

Steven opened his eyes against the bright light of the daytime to find himself laying in the grass beside the bottomless pit. He sat up, relatively unscathed thanks to floating at the last minute. Mabel and Dipper hurried to his side, Gompers trailing behind them.

“Yay, you’re back!” Mabel cheered. Steven didn’t answer at first, still reeling from what he saw. “Steven…?”

“You guys didn’t tell me there was a _spaceship_ down there!” Steven said incredulously.

“What? Spaceship?” Dipper said. “There should be nothing down there!”

Steven shook his head. “I went through a portal and suddenly I was in this wrecked spaceship underwater—oh! And I found this!” Steven pulled the stone he’d recovered from his pocket. Mabel and Dipper crowded close to inspect it. The rock was octagonal in shape, the edges sharp as if it had been cut instead of naturally formed. Strange glyphs marked the surface, carved into the stone with mathematical precision. “I don’t know what it is, but it has weird symbols carved into it.” 

“These symbols…” Dipper murmured, recognition flickering in his eyes. He pulled out his journal and turned to a page taken up by a circular chart filled with glyphs and alphabetical letters. “I know these symbols! I just need to decode them.”

Mabel took the stone from Steven’s hands, holding it up to the light to examine it further. “But who’s leaving messages on rocks?” she wondered.

“I don’t know,” Steven answered. “They were coming out of another warp—uh portal, and there were piles of them on the floor.” He paused as he tried to remember the details. “It was weird though. The portal wasn’t working right. It kept changing colors and only these rocks were getting through.” 

Dipper looked up from his journal with an uneasy expression. “...portal… it couldn’t be…” he muttered just loud enough for Steven to hear. 

Before he could question Dipper, Mabel shouted, “GOMPERS! How dare you!!”

Steven and Dipper turned to see the goat, Gompers, with the rock in his mouth. 

“Gompers you silly goat! That’s not a snack!” Mabel said as she approached him. Gompers shied away from her outstretched arm. She took a step forward, and the goat took a step back. “Gompers....” she warned. “Stay… right… there….”

Gompers, the contrite goat that he was, completely disregarded her warning and high-tailed it into the woods.

“No! The message!” Steven cried in dismay.

“Follow that goat!” Mabel called.

Steven scrambled to his feet and chased after the siblings as they ran after the goat. Gompers dodged through the trees, nimbly hopping over a thick patch of undergrowth. Dipper and Mabel started shoving their way through the bushes, but the sturdy branches and underbrush slowed them down. 

“Watch out!” Steven shouted.

Dipper and Mabel turned and pressed themselves to either side as Steven charged forward. The bushes were no match for his superior height and (slightly magical) strength, for he barreled through the undergrowth, leaving a path for the other two to follow. Steven caught sight of Gompers rounding a tree, and he continued the chase. 

As they ran, the trees started to thin and the underbrush gave way to bare ground. Grey rocks began to peek above the ground, and the treeline abruptly ended. With no path leading up to it, an old bridge reached across a deep ravine, and Gompers ran straight for it.

“Don’t let him get away!” Dipper yelled.

With Gompers nearly at the edge of the ravine, Steven desperately sprinted forward, forgetting his control. He burst through the last 10 feet with incredible speed and tackled the goat to the ground. Dipper and Mabel finally caught up to him, coughing through the small dust cloud that had risen in Steven’s wake. Steven grinned in triumph, Gompers secured in his arms. 

“Got him!” Steven said. 

“That was close,” Dipper said, glancing at the ravine. “One more step and we would have lost him.” 

Mabel stepped up and took the rock from Gomper’s mouth. “I’ll take that,” she said.

Their smiles vanished as the ground suddenly rumbled. The trio looked around nervously before the earth shifted, the edge of the ravine crumbling under their feet. Steven slipped into the ravine, losing his grip on Gompers. Dipper cried out, tumbling down even faster. Steven lunged forward, managing to wrap an arm around Dipper’s torso. The bottom of the ravine rushed closer, and Steven didn’t have time to think about being sneaky; he released himself from gravity moments before they hit the ground then unceremoniously flopped into the dirt.

Steven released Dipper from his grasp, and sat bolt upright. _Mabel!_ Where did she go?

“Dipper! Steven!”

Steven and Dipper looked skywards. Mabel hung in the air, suspended by her grappling hook which was firmly lodged into the bridge. Seeing the two boys below, she pressed a button and slowly lowered herself.

“Mabel!” Dipper said, running up to hug her as her feet hit solid ground. “Are you okay?” 

“Yeah, nothing the ol’ grappling hook couldn’t handle,” she replied casually, but Steven could see her hands shaking as she stashed it away. “You guys okay?”

“Somehow,” Dipper said, looking at Steven out of the corner of his eyes. He paused, head drawn upward as he looked up the steep side of the ravine. “Is it just me, or is this ravine way deeper than it should be?”

Steven followed his gaze upwards. The top of the ravine towered more than thirty feet above them, the wooden bridge a looming shadow against the noon sun. _That’s weird, it didn’t look that deep._

“Gompers! Where are you going?” Mabel said. They turned to see Gompers trotting away, unscathed from the fall. “Maybe he knows the way out of here?”

“Goats are good at climbing steep walls,” Dipper mused. He started trailing the goat and motioned for the others to follow. “Come on.” 

Mabel skipped along so that she was walking side-by-side with her brother, while Steven took up the rear. Gompers led them towards the center of the ravine, walking alongside a small creek. The sound of hooves hitting stone echoed in the vast canyon as dirt gave way to rock, and the trio found themselves in front of a cave set into the side of the ravine. A couple of goats stood near the entrance, gnawing at the scattered weeds growing amid the cracks. Gomper halted in his tracks, happily joining them to nibble on the scarce greenery. 

“What is this?” Steven said.

The cave entrance was decorated with geometric designs. The jagged shapes were harsh and primal, the thick lines an ominous dark red. Letters of another language laced their way through the shapes, binding them together at sharp angles. A crudely painted sun adorned the top with an all-seeing eye looking out from the center. Steven shivered. It radiated an ancient energy, as if a creature from distant times watched them stumble into its territory. 

“These words look Native American,” Dipper said, hands hovering cautiously over the strange letters. “My guess is Molala or Sahaptain, but it’s not the same. It looks… older.” He pulled out a small digital camera from his vest pocket and snapped a few pictures. 

Mable wandered inside, neck craning upwards as she examined the inner walls. More dark designs decorated the smooth stone, half enveloped by shadows. Steven followed her and stared at the writings, but it was too dark to make out.

“Hang on,” he said as he pulled out his cell phone. He hit the flashlight icon and a series of scenes stared back at them. Mabel gasped. 

The stone was covered in the same designs from the entrance, three scenes dominating the center of the wall. Steven directed his light to the first scene on the far left. Geometric shapes gathered around a large crystal, each one’s single eye staring at the sleeping female form within. With a feeling of unease, Steven moved his light to shine on the next scene. The female figure hovered above the shattered remains of the crystal, power flowing from her hands. Her power centered on a crack embedded in the cave wall. Steven gulped, his spine tingling at the sight of countless hands reaching out of the crevice, visions of the cluster flashing across his mind's eye. The last scene stopped Steven and Mabel in their tracks. Hands rushed out of a violent gateway on the ground, reaching higher and higher as they swallowed up the sun. 

Steven found himself drawn back to the feminine figure in the first paintings, her form eerily familiar. _That’s a gem!_ Steven realized with a start. The rhombus shape in her center, the entrapment in a crystal, it all made sense. But what could be the strange shapes, and what power swarmed out to consume the sun? 

Mabel frowned, her arms wrapped around each other. “Dipper!” she called. “You need to see this!”

Dipper hurried inside, his expression darkening at the sight of the cave paintings. He reached up, fingers grazing the triangular shape in the first scene. 

“It’s him, isn’t it?” he said softly. 

“Who?” Steven asked. “Do you know what this is?” 

Dipper and Mabel exchanged an uneasy look. 

“It’s a long story,” Dipper said. “You remember how we said there’s weirder stuff in this town? This is part of it.”

The ground suddenly rumbled under their feet, silencing them. Steven motioned for the others to press against the wall as the rumbling grew in frequency. _Boom, boom, boom, boom._ Steven cautiously peeked outside, eyes widening in disbelief at the creature approaching. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Surprise! Early update! 
> 
> Check out the cave paintings [here!](https://merryrnusician.tumblr.com/post/623491899412676608/these-are-the-finished-cave-paintings-for-my) I had to draw these to figure out how I wanted them to look sooooo you get bonus art lol 
> 
> Thank you so much for all of y'alls wonderful support :D Leave a comment or kudos if ya can, and see you next week!


	5. Chapter 5

Chapter 5

\------------------------------------

“What is that?” Steven whispered in awe.

A nine foot tall creature approached the cave from a distance. Goat hooves stood where legs should have been, a human torso rising out of brown fur. On its head was an oversized sun hat with a thick, homemade bug mesh draped over the top, obscuring the monster’s face. Olive tanned hands grasped an even taller shepherd's crook, its wood smooth and well tended. 

“Some kind of fawn? I thought they would be smaller though,” Dipper said with relative calm considering the hulking beast which approached them. 

“How would you know, Dipper? You’ve never seen one up close,” Mabel commented. 

“I have, _so_ many questions,” Steven muttered, never taking his eyes off the creature. 

“Let’s go with ‘Goatman,’” Dipper decided. “Disclaimer: I totally stole that.”

“Shhh! It’s getting closer!” Mabel shushed, slipping back into the cave and pulling Dipper with her. 

“How are we going to get out?” Dipper asked. 

“Good question,” Steven said. He looked around. The cave didn’t extend very far. In the back, a pile of straw lay spread across the floor, the charcoal remains of a small fire close by. There was nothing to hide in, only bare stone and soot. 

“Okay, I have an idea,” Steven said. “I’ll go out there and try to distract him. While I’m doing that, you two go and use Mabel’s grappling hook to get out of the ravine.”

“No way!” Mabel whispered. “We’re not leaving you to that giant!” Dipper nodded his head in agreement, his face determined. Steven smiled.

“Thank you, but I’ve got this,” he said, standing up. He dashed outside before the twins could react, shouting, “Hey Mister, over here!”

The Goatman’s head whipped around and locked onto Steven, its body completely still. Steven held his hands in the air, giving what he hoped was a friendly smile.

“Hey! Sorry to barge in, but I’m lost,” he said. Steven started to slowly walk away from the entrance, watching as the creature’s head tracked him. “Can you show me the way out of here?”

The beast didn’t speak. Instead, a low growl emanated from the shadowed sun hat. Steven froze. He saw Dipper and Mabel freeze as well, already a few feet away from the entrance. He needed to keep distracting it.

“I get it. I’m intruding into your space! You have every right to be angry,” Steven continued, trying to keep its attention on him. The growling continued. “I just need to find my way out and I’ll be out of your, uh, fur.”

Steven jumped as the Goatman started to step closer to him. The guttural growl simmered, then sputtered out as the creature stood before him. Steven gulped, catching a glimpse of Dipper and Mabel at the edge of the ravine, the grappling hook poised. Dipper waved for him to follow, but Steven could only focus on the bug screen that was shoved in front of his face. 

The Goatman snuffed loudly, it’s hot breath touching Steven’s nose. It reached up and pushed away the bug screen draped over its face, and Steven forced down a squeak of surprise. A coyote head stared back at him, it’s teeth bared in a snarl. 

“N-nice to meet you! My name is Steven!” Steven stammered, trying not to make any sudden movements. “What’s yours?”

The creature stared at him, his snarl fading into a more neutral expression. Steven waited, but was only met with silence. Just as he was about to come up with something else to say, it spoke.

“Huehuecóyotl,” they growled, the sound deep and guttural. 

“Way-way… Way-way-coy-yoh-tl. Huehuecóyotl,” Steven sounded out. Huehuecóyotl nodded with a grunt, standing up straight. The bug mesh fell back over their face, and the two stood in silence.

“NOW BEGONE!” they shouted, making Steven jump out of his skin. 

“Yep! I’m gone!” Steven said, running towards the others. 

Huehuecóyotl turned to watch him leave, stiffening at the sight of the other two kids. 

“Stop!” they barked. They started to chase after them, their hooves causing the ground to shake with each step. “Tree and Star, do not leave!”

“Steven, hurry!” Mabel cried. 

“No more time for that!” Steven shouted as he wrapped an arm around both of them. Huehuecóyotl charged right for them; there’s no way the grappling hook could get them out in time. Steven felt the warmth of his pink aura surround him, then he sprang 40 feet into the air, soaring high above the ravine. Dipper and Mabel screamed in surprise at the sudden exit, both clinging onto Steven for dear life. 

The roar of the Goatman echoed from the ravine, but there were no signs of pursuit. Steven sighed in relief, his aura dissipating as they floated in mid-air. Realizing they weren’t hurtling toward their doom, Dipper and Mabel went from terrified to awed, staring first at Steven, then at each other as they slowly drifted downwards. Steven landed as light as a feather, carefully releasing the other two and dusting himself off.

He blushed slightly. Mabel and Dipper were staring at him. _Great._ This always happened when he used his powers in front of people. 

“I know, I know,” Steven said, unable to keep eye contact. He rubbed the back of his neck, not sure if they were amazed or scared. “Let’s just say that my town has its own kind of weirdness.” 

“I knew it!” Dipper finally said. Steven glanced at him in surprise. “You’ve got super powers! That was amazing!”

“I can’t believe you’ve been holding out on us like this,” Mabel grinned, playfully poking him in the shoulder. “Flying? That was so cool!”

“You really think so?” Steven asked hesitantly. 

“Duh, Steven,” Mabel said. 

“You’ve got to tell me everything about your powers,” Dipper said excitedly. “Is flying the only thing you can do? Where do your powers come from? How—”

The trio was startled to silence as another frustrated roar echoed from the ravine.

“Let's, just get out of here,” Steven said.

“Agreed!” Mabel and Dipper said in unison. And with that, they turned around and started the trek back to the Mystery Shack.

\------------------------------------

Their voices bounced off the trees as the three approached the edge of the Bottomless Pit.

“So you’re actually part alien?” Dipper asked incredulously. He was scribbling notes down in his journal (per Steven’s permission of course). “But you look like a normal teenager to me.”

“I _am_ a normal teenager,” Steven chuckled. “But not all of me is human.” He paused and lifted his shirt slightly to reveal his gem. “This is my gem. It was passed down from my mom when she gave birth to me, and uh, kinda became part of me? It’s hard to explain.” 

“Steven, it’s beautiful!” Mabel said as she admired the stone. “I once bedazzled my face, but it doesn’t come close to how pretty your gem is.”

“Thanks,” Steven said as he lowered his shirt again, a small blush tinting his cheeks. As the Mystery Shack came into view, Steven slowed his walk until he stood still, anxiety crossing his face. When they realized he wasn’t with them, Dipper and Mabel stopped and turned to look at Steven. 

“Steven?” Mabel said.

“I’m sorry, I—” Steven stopped and took a quick breath to calm himself. “People don’t usually react so well to seeing my powers. Could we keep this on the down low? I’d hate to freak out your Grunkles or Melody and Soos…” 

Dipper and Mabel looked at each other, their excitement sobered by his pleading tone. Mabel turned back and gave him a sympathetic smile, Dipper following her lead. 

“Steven, we won’t share your secret if you don’t want us to,” she said, walking closer to him. 

“But a lot of people in this town are pretty used to strange phenomenon,” Dipper added. “Our family… including Melody and Soos, went through a sort of Armageddon—no Weirdmageddon last summer. They won’t freak out or hate you if you have special powers. You’re probably the least weird thing here honestly.”

Steven blinked in surprise. “Really?” he said. 

“Yep!” Mabel grinned. 

Steven smiled with relief. It had been exhausting trying to keep his powers hidden on this cross country road trip. That was another reason why he never stayed in one place for too long. People either got suspicious or weirded out if they saw him using his gem, and it was hard to make friends when he could only show half of himself. It felt as though a weight had been lifted off his shoulders. He stood a bit taller, his anxiety melting away. 

“That’s a huge relief,” Steven admitted. He started walking again, standing side-by-side with the twins as they continued towards the shack. Mabel grinned and placed her hands in her pockets, a look of surprise crossing her face.

“Oh my glarb!” she exclaimed. She pulled her hand out of her pocket to reveal the octagonal stone. “I totally forgot about the stone!”

“Oh right! The whole reason we ran into the woods,” Dipper said, taking the stone from her outstretched hand. He examined it closely as they walked, brows furrowed in concentration. 

“...okay, I don’t think I know _all_ of these symbols,” he admitted, frowning at the small rock. “Grunkle Ford knows more of them than me though. I’ll ask him to help me translate it.”

“Hey kids!”

The three looked up to see Stan relaxing on the back porch, shorts on and a sandwich in his hand. 

“Hi Grunkle Stan,” Dipper greeted, his eyes still on the stone. “I’m gonna find Grunkle Ford and figure out this message.” He pulled away from the group, walking to the front of the shack in search of Ford. “I’ll let you know when it’s translated!” he called out before he turned the corner. 

“What’s Dipper got now?” Stan asked, looking curiously after the boy. 

“Just a mysterious message on a stone that came out of a portal,” Mabel answered.

“Geez, the weirdness never ends,” Stan grumbled, leaning back further into his chair. “Why don’t you kids go make some lunch?” He waved his half-eaten sandwich for emphasis, adding, “And grab me a soda from inside while you’re at it.”

Steven was suddenly aware of just how empty his stomach was. Breakfast felt like days ago. 

“Sure Grunkle Stan,” Mabel answered, leading Steven to the back door. They entered the house, the cool AC drawing a chorus of _aaaaah_ s from both of them. 

“You said you can do more than fly, right?” Mabel asked as they entered the kitchen. 

“It’s more of floating than flying,” Steven said, reaching forward to open the fridge. He grabbed a package of lunch meat and cheese, setting them on the counter. He thought for a moment, trying to remember all of his collective powers. “But yeah, I can put up shields, I can heal, I’ve got super speed and strength, I can do some shape shifting…”

“That’s amazing!” Mabel said as she closed the bread box, eyes shining. “If I had super powers, I would shoot kitten heads out of my hands.” She punched the air, flinging the bread onto the counter as she froze in a fighting pose. Her form crumbled as giggles took over, and she abandoned her stance to assemble a turkey and cheese sandwich.

“You like kittens, huh?” Steven said as he placed two plates on the counter. He got an idea and grinned. “Then how do you like…” he paused dramatically before revealing his hand, one finger morphed into a tiny cat head. “This!”

“Oh. My. God,” Mabel gasped in hushed awe, her hands on her cheeks as she stared at the small cat. “ _I love him_.” She reached over and pet the tiny cat with one finger, laughing as it purred. 

“Can you shapeshift into anything?” she asked, obviously fascinated.

“Ehhh, I can, but I don’t,” Steven said vaguely, side eyeing the fridge. Memories of cat-finger chaos bubbled up, one of the truly terrifying moments of his childhood. “I’m not very good at it, so it can get out of control.” 

“You kids take too long to—AH!” Stan reeled back as he entered the kitchen, startled by the sight of Steven’s cat finger. 

“Grunkle Stan! Look, Steven can shapeshift!” Mabel said, still petting the tiny cat. Steven watched Stan nervously, too startled to revert his finger back to normal.

“Oh, is that all?” Stan said, recovering from his initial shock. He scrutinized the small creature, sneering at it when it hissed at him. “Well, put it away before you get fur all over your sandwiches. I’m getting a soda.”

Steven did so, wiping the nervous sweat from his brow. _He… was fine with it. That’s a nice change of pace_.

Steven and Mabel finished making their lunch and joined Stan on the porch, munching on their sandwiches in a comfortable silence. Steven found his mind circling back to the painted scenes they found in the cave. Why would a gem be involved in bringing something terrible here? What was the deal with the hands swallowing the sun? And why were sentient shapes initiating it? It didn’t make any sense with so little information. Stan began to snore when Steven remembered Dipper’s words from the cave. _“It’s him, isn’t it?”_ Who was “him”?

“Mabel, about those paintings we saw,” Steven said with a mouthful of sandwich. “What did Dipper mean by, ‘it’s him’? Do you guys know what those shapes are?”

Mabel frowned, her carefree atmosphere dimming slightly. She took another bite of her sandwich in silence, mulling over what she wanted to say.

“We know who one of the shapes is—was,” she corrected. “The triangle on the wall, his name was Bill. He was a demon from another dimension that nearly caused the end of the world last summer. We call it the Weirdmaggedon.”

“He was terrible, using us to make a portal to our dimension so that he could bring all his awful demon friends and take over the world. It took us and half the town to defeat him.” 

“I know how that feels,” Steven sympathized. “I bet it was scary.”

“Terrifying,” Mabel admitted with a shiver. She looked thoughtful, staring down at her half-eaten lunch. “But we defeated him and his demon gang. I don’t know why he was painted on that wall, or why there were others like him.”

“I’m sure the message we found will give us some leads,” Steven said, offering a hopeful smile. He examined the last bite of his sandwich, then had an idea. “You know who would like this? Waddles.”

“Waddles _loves_ eating leftovers,” Mabel said as she bounced to her feet. She started walking inside. “Oh Waddles!”

Steven stood to follow her, but paused, his gaze drawn to the forest. The scent of pine, the rustling undergrowth, the soft snores from Stan… such a different place than his home, but for some reason, just as comforting. He took a deep breath, relishing the moment of quiet.

“Steven! Waddles needs your sandwich sacrifice!” Mabel called from inside.

“Coming!” Steven called back, a smile on his face.

\------------------------------------

The afternoon and evening passed without event, and Steven was soon sound asleep on the couch bed once more. Or so he thought.

The room was pitch black when Steven felt something bump against the couch bed. _Probably Waddles snuffling around_. He rolled over and kept his eyes shut, not willing to leave the lull of sleep yet.

He felt another bump against the bed, this time accompanied by the sound of someone mumbling. _Wait, who’s talking?_ Steven sat up, rubbing the sleep out of his eyes as he looked into the night. As his eyes adjusted to the darkness, he picked out a shadowed form trying to squeeze between the end of the couch bed and the old TV. He blinked, trying to process what he saw. _Mabel?_

Mabel stood there in her nightgown, finally managing to wiggle past the end of the bed. She stared at the ground as she walked towards the gift shop, muttering something too soft for Steven to hear.

“Mabel? What are you doing awake?” Steven asked with a yawn. 

Mabel didn’t respond. She didn’t even turn to look at him. She shuffled to the door and into the gift shop, still muttering. Steven sat up straighter, unease growing in the pit of his stomach. Something was off. He slipped out of bed and followed her, his bare feet padding silently on the wooden floors. 

He found Mabel at the front door, staring out the window with her hand on the doorknob. 

“Mabel?” Steven said softly. He placed a hand on her shoulder, carefully turning her away from the door. “Hey, Mabel. You okay?”

As his hand grasped her shoulder, Mabel stopped her muttering and slowly drew her gaze upwards, looking at Steven through half-lidded eyes. She seemed to look through Steven, not at him, as if she could see something or someone else. _Is she awake?_ All of the sudden, her eyes were laced with tears and she sniffled, beginning to cry.

“Oh! Mabel!” Steven said, shocked at her quick turn of mood. “M-Mabel, don’t cry! What’s wrong?”

“...I can’t believe I almost abandoned all of you… I know I was tricked but… but…” she babbled between sobs, hands wiping away tears. “God, I was so stupid… I j-just….”

Realization struck Steven; she was sleepwalking. _Worse, she’s caught in a nightmare_. Steven knew all too well how these worked. Garnet had caught him more than once wandering the house at night after he lost himself. He didn’t remember every night, but those that he did, he knew she would calm him down and get him back to bed. It was the least he could do for Mabel.

“Mabel, it’s not your fault,” he soothed, kneeling down to her eye level. He squeezed her shoulder, then after a moment’s hesitation, encircled his arms around her in a hug. _I don’t know what you're dreaming, but I know it's not your fault._ She relaxed under his touch, breathing out a shaky sigh. Steven took her free hand, turning back towards the living room. “Let’s go back to bed, okay?”

Mabel nodded, wiping the last of her tears away as Steven led her out of the gift shop. They made it to the kitchen before Steven caught the sound of hurried footfalls, Dipper appearing at the bottom of the steep stairway which led to their room. 

“Mabel!” Dipper whispered, looking worriedly at Steven. Steven nodded at him, guiding Mabel to her brother.

“She was sleepwalking,” Steven murmured. Dipper nodded and took his sister’s hand, leading her upstairs. Steven sighed and grabbed a clean glass from the cabinet, pouring himself some water. Dipper returned a few moments later, emerging silently from the stairwell. 

“...Thanks for helping her out,” he said, still keeping his voice low. He shuffled his socked feet against the floor. “Sorry she woke you up.”

“It’s fine,” Steven said softly. He leaned against the kitchen counter, his eyes drifting to the darkened hallway behind Dipper. “...is she going to be okay?”

“She’ll be fine,” Dipper said, glancing at the stairs. “She usually doesn’t remember much in the morning.”

“A nightmare?” Steven asked.

“Y-yeah,” Dipper admitted, turning around to face the stairwell. “Ever since last summer, she sometimes has bad dreams. It’s been a long time since I’ve caught her sleepwalking, though.”

“Ah,” Steven said. Dipper fussed with the edge of his t-shirt, looking like he wanted to say something. Steven sipped at his water, for once hesitant to talk. He wanted so badly to help, but he learned the hard way during this trip that some people found him intrusive when he offered advice.

“Uhm, at the risk of ‘it’s none of my business,’ I noticed that Mabel seemed pretty torn up about something,” Steven started. “I, uh, actually used to sleepwalk when I had nightmares too.” 

Dipper turned around, his eyes attentive. Steven took that as a sign to continue. “It helped me to talk about it the next day, even if I didn’t remember everything. It was nice to get it off my chest instead of sit on those uncomfortable feelings… from the nightmare. What I’m trying to say is, it might help Mabel if she talks to you or somebody about what she remembers, even if it’s just what she felt.”

Dipper looked thoughtful for a moment before giving Steven a silent nod. “...Thanks. I’ve never thought to do that before.”

“Anytime,” Steven replied quietly, taking another sip of water. Dipper offered a soft smile, and Steven smiled sympathetically back. In the moonlit kitchen, they shared a moment of silence before they both went back to bed. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Poor Mabel T-T have you ever caught a family member sleepwalking? It's a weird experience tbh
> 
> I also loved writing about the “Goatman.” Dipper didn't steal the name, I did. Maybe you’ll get to see him in the future…? Keep reading to find out ;) Bonus points to anyone who can guess what real, published author is a huuuuuuge influence on my writing of mythical creatures!
> 
> As always, leave a comment or a kudos if you can, and see you next Monday!


	6. Chapter 6

Chapter 6

\------------------------------------

The next morning, Steven found himself in the museum portion of the Mystery Shack, following the tour group Soos was showing around. Soos wore a black suit today, an eye patch over his left eye as he played the part of the mysterious shack owner. 

“This is a real dinosaur foot, fossilized in a giant piece of amber!” Soos said with a flourish, posing as the small group took pictures with disposable cameras. “It was excavated right here in Gravity Falls from a deep, hidden cave. I’d take you there myself, but… we might never return!” Soos held a flashlight under his face for dramatic effect, breaking out into a laugh as the crowd _ooooh’_ ed and _aaaaaaah_ ’ed. 

“I’m just kidding dudes,” he added. “It’s like, super dangerous though. Don’t go spelunking alone, okay? Now, if you’ll follow me to the mystical place known as a ‘Gift Shop...”

Steven chuckled to himself, stopping to inspect the hunk of amber while the rest of the group was guided away. If it was fake, it was a pretty darn good fake. The leathery skin didn’t show a speck of rot, dirt still encrusted under the claw tips. The amber was cool against Steven’s fingertips, it’s surface smooth and unblemished. Steven felt a shiver run down his spine and he instinctively removed his hand from the object. _That almost… felt like a twitch..._ He gave it a long, suspicious look before moving on to other exhibits. 

He wandered between statues and artifacts, stumbling upon a picture gallery in a secluded corner. Mabel stood there, gluing photographs (and glittery stickers) to a large collage. 

“Hey Mabel,” Steven greeted.

“Hi Steven,” Mabel replied as she turned around. Steven suppressed a laugh. Her face was covered in sparkling stickers.

“What are you doing?” he asked, turning to inspect the collage.

“Stan asked me to add more pictures from last year,” Mabel said as she slathered glue on the back of another photo. She joined it to the collage with a wet _splat!_ It was a picture of a long-haired boy floating in a pool. Looking closer, Steven spotted a twisting shadow under the pool float grasped in the boy’s arms.

“Is that a mermaid?” Steven asked, pointing to the photograph. 

“A mer _man_ ,” Mabel corrected. “His name is Mermando. We dated for a little bit last year.”

“Wait, you’re telling me you dated a real merman last summer?” Steven said, his eyes wide in disbelief. 

“Mm-hm! It didn’t last though,” Mabel sighed. “He had to rule his underwater kingdom, and I had school to go to.”

“Tough break,” Steven said with a wry smile. 

“I think it would have ended in tragedy either way,” Mabel said dramatically, losing her character with a giggle. “I’m so over finding a summer romance though.”

“Summer romance? Like you only date for two months?” Steven said. How could you really learn to love someone in only two months? _I’ve known Connie for 4 years now_. 

“Silly, right?” Mabel said somewhat sheepishly, adding another photograph to the wall. “But I’ve learned. I’m still looking, but I’ve got my eye on a few boys at my school.” She pulled up another sticker sheet, offering it to Steven. Steven picked a grinning sun and stuck it among the photographs. 

“What about you Steven? Any _romance_ in your life?” Mabel asked, placing a shimmering moon next to Steven’s sticker. 

“Yeah, I’m dating someone right now,” Steven said, smiling at the thought of his girlfriend. 

“Oooooh, what’s their name?” Mabel said excitedly.

“Her name’s Connie,” Steven answered, pulling up his phone. He hit the power button, showing off a selfie of him and Connie on the beach. Mabel squealed in glee at the sight of her.

“Steven! You didn’t tell me you were smooth enough to get such a gal!” Mabel teased. Steven blushed bright pink.

“N-No way! I’m not smooth at all!” he sputtered, shaking his head to regain some of his cool. “I’ve known Connie for years now. She’s one of the first people I met outside of Beach City.”

“She looks nice,” Mabel said, easing off her teasing. “I’d love to meet her. We could video chat!” 

“Maybe,” Steven mused. Considering she had already visited him during this road trip, she could see this place in person if she took Lion. Perhaps he could invite her to visit Gravity Falls.

Steven was distracted from his thoughts as Dipper ran into the room. Dipper circled the exhibits and then caught sight of them, running over with his journal in hand.

“Mabel! Steven!” He said. “We decoded the message!” Both Mabel and Steven jumped to their feet.

“Really?” Said Steven.

“What does it say?” Mabel asked.

“It’s really cryptic,” Dipper answered, looking around the exhibits nervously. “Come on! We can’t talk about it here!”

Dipper turned and ran towards the back of the room, pulling back a curtain to reveal a door with another “Employees Only” sign posted on it. Mabel and Steven followed him through into a back hallway, running down and around before suddenly entering the kitchen. Steven blinked in surprise. _What a weird layout. Can a hallway even fit there?_ Ford sat at the kitchen table, papers spread out before him. He waved casually as the three teenagers entered, but Steven could see the underlying worry in the crease of his brow. 

“So, Dipper tells me you found this on an alien spaceship,” Ford said, holding the stone in his left hand. He looked at each of them in turn, his eyes stopping to rest on Steven. “He also tells me you’re part alien, Steven. Is this true?”

“Y-yeah,” Steven stuttered, his breath catching in his chest. _Please don't hate me, please don’t—_

“Fascinating,” Ford said, seemingly satisfied with the answer. “You must tell me more later.” Steven let out the breath he didn’t even know he was holding. _This is… nice. They’re not freaking out._ Steven had finally shown his full self to people outside of Beach City. No secrets, no lies. Just a sense of home. 

“As for this message, I think we may have some trouble on our hands.” Ford picked a sheet of paper from the table, pushing up his glasses as he began to read. “Eh-hm. _‘All forces gather. Nearing breakthrough. Listen to interdimensional radio station 9872.4 FG.’_ ”

“It’s a calling card,” Dipper said with a frown. “Someone’s trying to recruit.”

“Do you think it’s Bill’s gang?” Mabel asked as she pulled nervously at her sweater sleeves.

“The demons that attacked you last year?” Steven added. 

“Yes, but we won’t get any more information unless we get our hands on an interdimensional radio,” Ford pointed out. “Mine was stolen _years_ ago, so we’ll have to find another one.”

“Where are we going to get interdimensional technology?” Dipper asked.

“Why, from interdimensional beings,” Ford replied. He grabbed a large, rolled up poster, flattening it out onto the table. “Thankfully, I know just where to get one.” 

“Whoooa,” Steven said in awe. The large poster was actually a copy of some sort of ancient tapestry, all sandy cloth and fading blank ink. Small, simple figures stood on a hill in the corner, waving at the night sky. The majority of the space was taken up by what could only be a flying saucer, waves of energy radiating off the alien structure. 

“Oh man, are we gonna go to the spaceship again?” Dipper said excitedly

“You got it,” Ford replied with a grin. “Are you three ready for a quest?”

“Yes!” Steven agreed.

“Weeeeeeell... actually, I’m going to hang out with Candy and Grenda today,” Mabel admitted. "But you guys can totes go without me."

“You sure?” Dipper said. “We can go later if you want us to wait.”

“Nah, you guys go ahead,” Mabel said, making a waving motion with her hands. “I’ve filled my quota of near-death experiences for the week, thank you very much!”

“Suit yourself,” Ford shrugged, gathering a few items from the table into his large overcoat. “Steven, Dipper, ready to go?” 

“Let’s go!” Steven and Dipper replied.

\------------------------------------

Ford drove them out beyond the outskirts of the town. Steven watched as the pine trees parted and a rounded cliffside rose into view, encapsulating a huge, circular valley. The car pulled off the highway and the smooth asphalt quickly turned into a dirt road. Gravel crunched under the tires as they drove through dense woodland, barbed wire fencing lining either side of the road. Steven fell forward slightly as they slowed to a halt. Looking through the front window, Steven saw the dirt road had come to an end at a rusty gate.

“Come on, the rest of the way’s on foot,” Ford said, taking his keys and leaving the car. Dipper and Steven hopped out and followed Ford through the gate, which he locked securely behind them.

“Follow me,” he waved.

Steven trailed behind the Pines as they began discussing where they should look for the interdimensional radio, taking in scenery. The trees were thick and dark, sunlight only reaching the ground in dappled shades. Bird calls emanated from the undergrowth, but no matter how hard he looked, Steven couldn’t spot a single creature. Stepping over fallen logs and weaving through the trees, Steven was happy to see Ford approach a dirt path at the beginnings of a hill.

“Watch your footing, it’s slick,” Ford warned, starting the trek upwards. 

Steven kept close behind Dipper as they followed Ford through the undergrowth, pebbles getting caught in his flip flops as they followed a rough-hewn path. By the time they reached the top, Steven was out of breath and his sandals full of grit. He shook them out as they walked to the grassy center of the hill which was oddly devoid of pine. Steven shaded his eyes against the sun, whistling as he took in the view.

Below them laid out the entire town of Gravity Falls. Quiet roads and buildings sat buried in a sea of evergreen, one lone water tower rising above to mark civilization. Two large cliff faces loomed above the town, each one stretching from the left and right as if to bridge the gap between them. An old rail bridge connected the two cliffs, which seemed to float in mid-air due to a large layer of rock missing from the bottom. _I wonder if that’s where the name ‘Gravity Falls’ comes from_. Despite the fantastic view, Steven could not see any signs of an alien spaceship.

“Should we be able to see the craft from up here?” Steven asked. Dipper smirked, sharing a knowing glance with Ford at the question.

“Oh yeah,” the younger boy said, crouching low to the ground. Dipper pulled out a gun-like device from his vest and twisted the back of it, where Steven noticed a green plus sign glow. He pointed it to the ground and pulled the trigger. Steven jumped back as a blue beam shot out and latched onto the ground. Dipper pulled upwards, lifting what Steven could now see was a panel and revealing a metal chute. “You can see all of it from up here.”

Steven’s eyes widened, his eyebrows shooting up at the implication of Dipper’s words. The large hill, the circular valley, the strange shape of the floating cliffs…

“You mean this _whole place_ is the spacecraft?!” Steven gasped, his eyes shining.

“That’s right kid,” Ford said. “Welcome to Crash Site Omega.”

Steven has seen some huge things in his life _(giant robots, giant gems, giant monst—let's not think of that one)_ , but the fact that he was standing on a simple spacecraft as big as a small town blew his mind. He was so wrapped up in tracing the edge of the spacecraft along the cliffs that he didn’t even notice that Dipper and Ford had already entered the tunnel.

“Come on, Steven!” Dipper called. 

“Oh, right,” Steven replied sheepishly. Dipper descended into the ground as Steven approached the chute. He climbed in, the rope of the ladder rough against his palms as he descended after the Pines.

They climbed down into the darkness, nothing but the sound of creaking rope and quiet breath echoing down the tunnel. Sunlight touched the edge of Steven’s feet as the chute opened up below them. The ladder carried them down into a gigantic inner chamber. The walls and floor were made of silver metal, dulled by the passage of time and the flora that covered nearly every surface. Large, circular symbols of another language marked the walls, the crevices teeming with earth life. Steven jumped off the ladder, excited energy coursing through him.

“This place is amazing!” he exclaimed, spinning around with his arms in the air. “I can’t believe you’re the only people who know about this.”

“I felt the same way when Grunkle Ford first brought me down here,” Dipper said, frowning as he remembered something. “The ‘wow’ factor is gone after we nearly died here though.” Steven raised an eyebrow in question. 

“Security drones,” Ford answered for Dipper. “Shouldn’t be an issue now. I managed to hack the security and deactivate them. For now.” 

Steven laughed nervously as Ford led them to the edge of the platform. There was nowhere else to go, just a yawning chasm below. 

“Where are we going?” Steven asked.

“Down. With the help of these,” Ford announced, pulling two gun-like devices from his coat. Dipper did the same, checking the back again to make sure the plus sign was glowing. Ford extended the second gun to Steven. “Magnet guns. You’ll need one to get down there.”

“Thanks, but I can get there on my own,” Steven replied with a smile. He casually walked off the edge of the platform, drifting downwards with practiced ease.

“Remarkable,” Ford muttered. 

“Cool, right?” Dipper said with a grin before jumping off, his magnet gun latching on to the nearest pillar as he skated into the abyss. 

Dipper and Ford landed shortly after Steven, stashing away the magnet guns. They were in a large, rounded hallway that stretched out in both directions. The same circular symbols graced the walls, but it was much more contained than the expansive chamber they had first entered. 

“We should try the main deck,” Dipper suggested. “That’s where they would keep communication devices, right?” He looked at Ford, who hummed in thought.

“Usually you would be correct, but an interdimensional radio is…” Ford paused, trying to find the right words. “It’s a more casual device. Similar to the pocket radios that people used to carry around to listen to music or talk shows.” 

“I keep my radio in my room back home,” Steven suggested.

“That’s right! It’s a personal device so maybe they would keep it in their… rooms? Dorms?” Dipper held his hands up with the palms facing the ceiling, his brain stuttering.

“Bunkers?” Steven offered.

“That's a good one,” Dipper agreed with a sage nod of his head.

“There is a dormitory wing,” Ford said. His hands began searching pockets, twelve fingers digging through pocket after pocket until a flashlight appeared. He turned to the left, his flashlight casting a white light down the dusty hall. “We might be able to find something down there.”

Ford led them into the dreary darkness, the metal plates sounding hollow under their feet. After two more lefts, a twisting staircase, and a brief standoff with an unusually large beetle, they arrived in a hallway filled with oval shaped doors. 

“It will be more efficient if we split up,” Ford said, pulling out two more flashlights and distributing them as he spoke. “Dipper take the left. Steven, the right. I’ll start on the opposite end. We’re looking for a small device with a speaker and a screen. Any questions?”

“Nope,” Dipper said.

“Sounds good,” Steven replied. 

“Okay, may the quest begin!” Ford announced dramatically as they split off in different directions. 

Steven turned to the first door on the right, small flashlight poised and ready. He opened door, after door, after door. One door revealed a room swathed in rotting fabric. Another contained only a slime pool occupied by a strangly large millipede. Another was filled to the brim with bursting plant life. Grey walls, strange artifacts, and dark corners blended together until one door did not open. 

Steven paused, surprised that the door didn’t slide open on his command like the rest. A hairline crack opened between the edge of the door and the wall, the darkness obscuring what lay beyond. Steven tapped the open button again, listening as mechanisms whirred but the door did not budge. 

_Must be jammed,_ Steven thought. _Looks like I’ll have to force it open_. Steven grabbed the flashlight between his teeth, pushing his sleeves up in preparation. He managed to squeeze his fingers into the slim opening of the door. Securing his grip, he took a deep breath and pulled. The door scratched another inch wider. 

Steven steadied himself, taking an even deeper breath as he focused. There was a sharp tug in his gut and he _pulled_.

The door slammed into its pocket within the wall, metal handprints crushed into the edge where Steven had gripped it. Steven let out a breath as his aura dissipated, offering a sheepish wave to Dipper when the teen poked his head out to investigate the noise. Dipper gave him a thumbs up and returned to his own room.

Steven pointed his flashlight into the dim room as he entered, eyes on the ground so as not to step in any slime. As the light swept upwards to touch walls and ceiling, Steven was astonished to find them covered in countless sheets of paper. Each one displayed a sketch, an outline, or a painting of some distant landscape, the strange colors and impossible shapes speaking of innumerable planets. Large paintings overlapped the busy sketch works, layer upon layers padding the room. Steven stepped carefully as he investigated deeper, determined to keep his shoes off the papers which had fallen to the ground. 

Steven blinked back spots as a reflection caught his eye. Gently moving a few papers around, Steven discovered a desk of some sort buried under stacks of artwork. 

Steven sifted through the countless papers, trying to uncover anything that may lay beneath. Blue columns of dust connected a storm to a mountainous terrain. Plains of pink were grazed upon by strangely tall creatures. A sparkling city shimmered from within an amber sea. Crystalline towers protruded from inside a deep canyon.

Steven looked closer at the sketch in his hand. Those weren’t towers. They were Gem injectors. 

“A kindergarten,” Steven whispered out loud, a cold pit forming in his stomach. Of course other aliens would have contact with Gems. They took over whole worlds to create kindergartens, to further their population. Steven didn't think they would be seen as a friendly species. 

Shame burned in his heart, but for what? He only found out about Gem colonization a few years ago. The Diamonds had been destroying planets centuries before he had even been born. He even stopped it once he made peace with them, but something about having their old destruction shown so plainly made guilt sink into his stomach. The dread seeped into his skin, remorse tightening his throat as his eyes filmed misty. 

Heat burned across his cheeks, and he watched his fingers glimmer an all-too-familiar rose. 

“ _Please don't_ ,” Steven whispered. The sketch blurred as tears overflowed, and Steven felt hot as his aura flared up brightly. His heartache growing faster than he could hold, he folded into himself, head bent down and arms wrapped around his knees as he crouched low to the ground. Heartbeat thumping in his ears, Steven distantly heard Dipper calling out something in the hallway, but he couldn't spare a moment to figure out what he was saying. He focused on his heartbeat, desperately trying to keep his breathing steady and the panic at bay.

A terrible sound cut through the walls and Steven felt _wrong_.

He quickly covered his ears, but the piercing pitch persisted, an awful combination of whine and static. Ford was shouting but Steven could only focus on blocking out the sound. His skin burned, every atom within him trying to split at the seams. He felt unstable, as if his body was blurring at the edges. He couldn't focus. Blackness creeped into the edge of his vision, then _—_

Silence. 

Steven lay on the ground, his chest heaving as he tried to breathe. He felt lightheaded and scattered, but at least that terrible noise had stopped. Steven vaguely saw Dipper and Ford standing above him, but that's all he could see before he slipped into darkness.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> oh my gosh we have over 1000 hits on this story and over 100 kudos!! You guys are incredible, I couldn't do this without your support <3 Thank you so much for all your kind words and comments. I will probably stop responding to comments so as to not clog them up, but know I see them all and they fill me with motivation~
> 
> also, I'm moving this week, so next week's chapter maaaaaay be a little late. Do not fret, there is much planned and to be written yet! 
> 
> See you guys (sometime) next week! Don't forget to leave a kudos or a comment, have a great night ^-^
> 
> \----------------------------
> 
> EDIT: I changed a few things here and there. Def give it a re-read at the end if ya want :D  
> This story is a living draft! Thank you for understanding <3


	7. Chapter 7

Chapter 7

\------------------------------------

“...even….Ste…. _Steven!_ ”

Steven’s eyes fluttered open. Dipper stood above him, his eyes wide with panic. Dipper’s mouth moved, but his voice was muffled, the sound muted and distant. Steven stared at Dipper in a daze, his hand subconsciously brushing against his temple. His fingers slid across his sweat soaked forehead and he brought his hand back in front of his face. _Huh that’s… blood._

Blood. His blood.

The bubble of muted sound burst, voices and animalistic cries flooding Steven’s ears. Pain seared along the back of his head, the sensation barely registering as he struggled to sit up.

“You’re awake!” Dipper exclaimed too loudly, his voice reverberating in Steven’s skull. Steven blinked back the pain, his mind still fuzzy as Dipper helped him stand. Dipper glanced behind the teen and yanked Steven to the side. “Look out!”

A giant millipede lunged inches from Steven’s outstretched arm. Steven reeled away, his mind crystal clear as his adrenaline spiked. The creature was as tall as a grown man, it’s legs writhing as it twisted around. It reared back with a hiss, tensing to strike again.

“Yaaaaah!” 

Ford jumped in between the oversized bug and the teenagers, delivering a solid _whap!_ to the millipede’s head. It flew backwards into the wall, papers exploding into the air with the impact. 

“You kids okay?” Ford asked, swinging a metallic table leg at another incoming insect. 

“I-I think so,” Steven managed. He eased his weight off of Dipper’s shoulders, somehow managing to keep his feet firm. “What happened?”

“I accidentally turned on the interdimensional radio when I found it,” Dipper said. He suddenly whipped out his magnet gun and activated it onto a nearby chair, heaving the object into another pair of approaching millipedes. “It blasted an awful sound!”

“Some sort of sonic trap,” Ford clarified as he kicked away a millipede. “These fellas swarmed us after we found you. Must have been living on this floor.” The elder man spun around, knocking back three more large insects. Even as he fought them off, four more appeared, each battling to get closer to the trio. 

“We’ve gotta go,” Dipper said. “Can you walk?”

“I can run,” Steven replied. “Go!”

Ford forged them a path through the vicious insects, Steven following unsteadily and Dipper protecting the rear. Millipedes poured into the room, the entrance thick with hundreds of legs. Ford stepped forward to deal with them, but Steven pulled ahead. 

He pulled his arms upward and projected a large, flat barrier into the middle of the creatures. Sweat beading on his brow, Steven slammed his outstretched arms to the sides. The barrier split in two, pushing the crowd of insects to either side. Steven saw stars as the world rocked under his feet, only managing to stay upright as Dipper and Ford caught him on either side.

“Go, go!” Ford called. He and Dipper ran to the door with Steven between them. 

The millipedes scabbled against the barriers, cracks spider webbing under their legs. Steven gasped as his head pounded, suddenly overcome with the same disconnected sensation as before. The pink walls sputtered and glitched, the insects swarming faster.

“Hurry!” Dipper shouted.

Steven’s barriers vanished as they ran through the door, a flood of slimy insects close on their heels. Ford wielded his table leg like a baseball bat, beating back the closest insects as Dipper supported Steven. They ran through the silver hallways, stumbling up the stairwell, and back into the bottom of the entrance cavern. 

“Magnet guns out!” Ford instructed. Dipper pulled his device out, poised to shoot. Steven allowed his aura to glow, but another pounding headache sent his outline buzzing with static. The pink shimmer winked out.

“I can’t activate my powers,” Steven whispered. _Oh god not now why now—_

“It’s okay!” Dipper called, looking back at Ford. “Together. We can take him up!”

Ford ran up to Steven’s left, scooping an arm under his shoulder. Dipper did the same, securing his grip on the right. Behind them, millipedes reached for their heels. 

“Ready!” Ford said. 

Steven bit down his fear to focus. _Breathe_ . He drew inwards, closing his eyes. _Focus._ He saw his fear and panic, placed it in a box. _Float_.

“Now!” Dipper said.

They both activated their magnet guns, twin shots beaming out towards the ceiling. Steven’s stomach dropped as they lifted into the air at an incredible speed, his static filled aura releasing them from gravity. 

They launched upwards into the daylight, clearing the cavern completely. They floated in the air, relishing the moment of triumph _—_ then Steven’s glow fizzled out. The three fell to the ground, landing scattered in the woods.

“Kids! Where are you?” Ford’s voice rang out. 

“I’m over here!” Dipper answered. He brushed himself off, standing with a small wince. Looking ahead, he noticed broken tree limbs and rustled undergrowth. “I think Steven is ahead!” 

Steven groaned, buried in underbrush. He felt like he had been hit by a truck. Everything ached, and he couldn’t even move to sit up. 

“Over… here,” Steven manages to call, extending an arm upwards. 

“Steven?” There was the sound of rustling limbs, and Dipper pushed his way out of the undergrowth, looking rather battered. 

“Ah! Steven!” Dipper ran over to him. _We did it,_ Steven thought. Ford appeared a moment later, rushing forward to remove the undergrowth. _We’ll make it home._ Voices spoke but they soon faded into nothing. Steven felt himself drift as darkness enclosed him once more. 

**\---.--//--------\ . -. ---//----.----/-\\-/-----./-/--- . -**

**_…………..You’ll do just fine………….._ **

**\--\\\/\/---[-----//---;-/---/---’ - -.\\.-\\-\\---]-. ----//-**

Steven jumped awake with a gasp. 

All was quiet and still, afternoon light filtering into the living room. _How did I get here?_ Steven felt a rush of dizziness, falling back into the couch bed. He winced at the motion, touching the soft gauze wrapped around his head. Memories of yesterday flooded his mind, tumbling and pouring over him until his skin felt like ice. _The static. The pain._ Steven shivered despite the blanket on his lap. _My powers weren’t—_

His phone chimed brightly, startling him out of his thoughts.

He took a breath. Cautiously, he lifted his shirt to check on his gem. _My gem is here. I’m here. So…_ Steven released the old blanket, staring at the creases in his palms. He willed his powers to activate, and watched as his skin glowed rose. Then, a wave of nausea rolled through him, and the glow disappeared with a crack of static. 

His cell phone chimed twice, almost insistently. Steven hesitated, then grabbed it, fingers glossing over the smooth screen. 

“Connie?” Steven said aloud, his voice scratchy.

conEEE: Good afterniuun!

conEEE: afternoon**

conEEE: How is your day going? ^-^

Steven opened the messenger app, typing back his reply.

SteveBoi: it could be better

SteveBoi: i think i’m sick :(

A small speech bubble appeared, three dots bouncing as Connie typed.

conEEE: Oh no!! That’s the worst T-T

conEEE: Wait, have you ever gotten normal sick before??

SteveBoi: nope :/

SteveBoi: but this could be related to my gem… 

SteveBoi: we ran into some trouble on the spaceship 

SteveBoi: i've felt sick since i woke up :¥

The speech bubble bobbed up and down as Connie typed, erased, and retyped her messages.

conEEE: I'm sorry you’re not feeling well T_T

conEEE: Would it help if I came and visited you? 

Steven smiled, a pang of happiness shooting into his heart. 

SteveBoi: i honestly miss you a lot

SteveBoi: i would love to see you <3

The speech bubble didn't even get the chance to pop up before Connie’s message appeared.

conEEE: Great!

conEEE: I’ll come by this afternoon, after class is done for the weekend 

SteveBoi: okiiii

conEEE: See you soon!

SteveBoi: see you soon <3 <3

Steven returned to the home screen, pausing to look at his background photo. It was a selfie of him and Connie on the beach. Connie wore a pale blue sundress, her hair blowing in the wind and her face caught mid-laugh. Steven stood to her left, sticking his tongue out while holding her hand. He took that picture right before he left Beach City so that he could see her a little bit each day, even if they didn’t video call or chat via their favorite messaging app. His thumb hovered over Connie’s face, as if he could reach through the screen and run his fingers through her hair once more. 

“So close, yet so far,” he murmured, sinking further into the bed. Steven bit his lower lip, thoughts returning to his current problem. “How am I gonna tell her what happened without her freaking out?”

“Make who freak out?” 

Steven turned to see Dipper emerge from the kitchen. Steven had been so wrapped up in his thoughts, he hadn’t even noticed the boy come downstairs. 

“Hi Dipper,” Steven croaked, his voice scratchy as he tried to speak up. “I was texting Connie.” He pushed himself further under the covers, frowning. “She’s coming to visit, but I hate making her worry.” 

There was a gasp from the kitchen, and Mabel stuck her head though the doorway. 

“Connie’s coming to visit!?” she said excitedly. She ran into the living room, socked feet skidding across the wood floors. “I can’t wait to meet Steven’s girl—wah!”

Mabel didn’t have enough traction to stop and slid into Dipper, knocking them both to the ground with an undignified _oof!_

Surprised, Steven couldn’t suppress the smile that tugged on the corners on his lips. As Dipper tried (and failed) to untangle himself from his sister, a giggle escaped Steven’s mouth. Steven found himself suddenly bent over with laughter, unheeding of the curious stare from the twins. 

It wasn’t even that funny. Yet, even as the laughter made his lungs ache, fear and anxiety escaped his body with each sound. He laughed until he was breathless, falling back onto the couch bed with a sigh. 

“Sorry,” Steven chuckled. “I-I’m not laughing at you, I swear! That was just— _hehe_ —really funny.”

“You should have seen me at the slip-n-slide contest,” Mabel joked, sitting on the edge of the bed. Looking at him closer, her tone sobered. “How are you doing?”

“I feel fine,” Steven replied automatically, but scrunched up his face as a wave of pain rolled through his head. “Okay, not fine. Tired. Bruised.” 

“Yeah, me too,” Dipper said, gently rubbing the compress taped to his cheek. “It was definitely a rough one.” 

“You can say that again,” Steven said with a small laugh, but his breath hitched as he began to cough. Steven managed to catch his breath, suddenly heavy with exhaustion. 

“...are you sure you’re okay?” Dipper said. “You don’t look so good.”

“I feel…” Steven paled, another wave of nausea rolling through him. “...kind of sick actually.”

“Sick?” Mabel said.

“W-wait here!” Dipper said. He jumped up, dashing out of the room. “I’ll go get Grunkle Ford!”

It wasn’t long before all the Pines had gathered in the living room, Ford kneeling down to examine Steven. The elder man shined a flashlight into Steven’s eyes, studying his pupils closely.

“Everything looks in order,” he said, returning the flashlight to his pocket. “You don’t have a concussion or any broken bones—” The thermometer in Steven’s mouth beeped, causing Ford to pause and check the reading. “You do have a fever though.”

“You look like Dipper when he caught the flu last month,” Mabel observed.

“Ugh, don’t remind me,” Dipper shuddered. “I was achy and nauseous for a week!”

“Is this what the flu feels like?” Steven wondered aloud. “I don’t think I’ve _ever_ caught the flu.”

“But why would you get sick after a sonic wave attack?” Dipper said as he sat on the floor.

“...maybe it has something to do with this?” Steven said. He lifted a weary hand and activated his aura, the projection stuttering like a broken hologram. 

“The sonic wave must have affected your gem half,” Ford said, curiosity evident in his voice. 

“So what?” Stan spoke up from the doorway. “You’re saying that glitch is making him sick?”

“All evidence points to that conclusion,” Ford said as he turned back to Steven.

Steven shrugged half-heartedly, unsure of himself. He was tired and sick and honestly just wanted to close his eyes and take a nap.

“If you’re sick we could get you some medicine,” Mabel offered. 

“Soup and sports drinks helped me,” Dipper added.

“Oh! Oh!” Mabel bounced off the bed in her excitement. “Lets go to Med Emporium! I’ve always wanted to go in there, but our parents won’t take us there because _‘it's too run down and full of old people.’_ ”

“That’s what makes it so great!” Stan interrupted. “You can grab so many small things and none of the ancient employees notice.”

“Free stuff! Free stuff!” the twins chanted together, pumping their arms into the air as they ran off to get ready. Stan followed them out, his voice joining the chant as they left the room. That left Steven and Ford, who looked sympathetically at the anxious teen.

“If I know my interdimensional weaponsㅡand I should considering that I’ve been studying interdimensional technology for the last 30 yearsㅡit’s that a device like this has no lasting damage,” Ford said, resting a comforting hand on Steven’s shoulder. “It’s small, meant to distract and scare. You’ll be alright.”

Steven gave him a small smile. “Thanks. I think I’m just tired.”

“I’ll let you rest,” Ford released his shoulder, pulling out the interdimensional radio as he walked towards the gift shop. “In the meantime, I’m going to take a crack at disarming this radio.”

As the living room door closed, Steven deflated into the bed, the weight of the day fully landing on him. He snuggled down into the sheets, closing his eyes to rest once more.

\------------------------------------

The evening sun cast long shadows across the ground, its heat enveloping Steven like a warm embrace. Steven swung his legs from his perch on the front porch, his eyes looking out into the forest. He had exchanged his flannel pajama top in favor of his classic t-shirt, but the pajama pants were so comfortable that he had elected to leave them on. There were few people at the Mystery Shack anyways, and most visitors still gave him a polite wave on their way in. Of course, it wasn’t the average visitor whom Steven was waiting for. 

In a dark patch of woods, a lion’s roar echoed, startling a flock of birds to the sky. Steven stood, one hand on a support beam to keep him steady. There, among the pine trees, a girl emerged.

“Connie!” Steven called, waving one hand in the air. 

Connie turned left, then right, her dark curls bouncing with each movement. Her eyes locked onto Steven and her face lit up with a smile.

“Steven!” she exclaimed. She ran across the parking lot and jumped onto the porch, embracing Steven tightly. “I’ve missed you!” Steven leaned into the hug, his head brushing against hers.

“I’ve missed you too,” Steven said softly, squeezing her back.

Connie leaned away, her arms still wrapped around him and the grin never leaving her face. “It _has_ been over a month,” she laughed. She released him, Steven’s hand falling down to grasp her own. 

“Sorry it couldn’t be under better circumstances,” Steven said sheepishly, his fingers intertwining with hers. Connie didn’t respond with words, instead drawing Steven’s hand into her palms. His hand felt cold and clammy against her soft fingertips, causing her to raise an eyebrow.

“So, you’re sick for the first time ever?” she noted, trying to rub some warmth back into his hand. 

“That’s what it looks like,” he replied. As if to prove his point, he turned to the side and sneezed, his aura flaring up in a static-filled outline. Connie dropped his hand in surprise, her shoulders tensing ever so slightly. Steven sniffed and his aura disappeared. Connie shook her head and smiled sympathetically.

“Maybe we should go inside,” she suggested softly, her eyes flitting to the tourists coming out of the gift shop. 

“Good idea,” Steven nodded. “This way.” He hopped off the porch, just barely keeping his balance as he landed. Connie took the stairs, following Steven as he led her around the left side of the shack, away from prying eyes. 

The initial joy of seeing Connie waned as Steven’s worries began to bubble to the surface. What if she freaks out? What if she gets so worried she tells him to cancel this whole trip? What if his gem never returns to normal? What if he’s stuck like this? What ifㅡ

“Steven?” Connie drew him out of this thoughts with a gentle squeeze to his shoulder. “Are you okay? You look like you’re about to be sick.”

Steven placed a hand on the shack, steadying himself. He felt sick to his stomach, but not because of the nausea. When he didn’t speak, Connie’s eyebrows furrowed and she tilted her head in concern.

“...Steven?” she said again. Steven let out a frustrated groan, sitting down with his back against the wooden wall. Connie carefully sat down next to him, waiting patiently as he rubbed his neck in thought. 

“I’m… I’m sorry,” Steven finally said. He couldn’t look at her, his eyes filled with shame. “I told you I would be safe on this trip and I got hurt. Everything was going so well, and I-I didn’t want to worry you, butㅡbut now I’m freaking out because I’m scared I’ll be stuck like this, and I just want to have fun with you while I’m here a-andㅡ”

“Steven, it’s alright,” Connie interrupted. Steven lifted his gaze, his eyes shimmering with unshed tears. She scooted closer to him, pressing against his side with a thoughtful expression. “Of course I’m going to worry about you. But I only worry because I, well, I care about you, silly.” She smiled at him, and a tear slipped down Steven’s cheek.

“Hey,” Connie said softly, her free hand brushing his cheek. “It’s going to be okay. Whatever this isㅡgem stuff, sicknessㅡwe’ll figure it out. We always do.” 

She opened her arms, and Steven dove forward into the hug, burying his face into her shoulder. As the tears flowed, Steven could only think one thing: _God, am I lucky_. 

Steven didn’t know how long they sat glued together, but by the time his tears dried, the forest was illuminated by the purple glow of twilight. Steven found himself resting his head on Connie’s shoulder, her hand combing lazily through his curly hair. Steven came out of his doze, recognizing how late it was getting. 

“Geez, sorry,” Steven said as he sat up. “Lets get inside." 

“You’re fine,” Connie replied. She stood and brushed the grass bits off of her jeans. She extended her hand and Steven grasped it, using it as leverage to stand. 

Connie overcompensated and lifted him up with too much strength, causing Steven to stand nose to nose with her. _Whoa._ They both blinked in surprise. Their noses touched, a spark of pink static crackling between them. Connie giggled, pushing him away playfully as Steven blushed. 

“Come on you silly goose,” she said. She turned towards the mystery shack, hands grasping the backpack straps across her shoulders. “Show me these new friends you keep texting me about!”

“R-right!” Steven stammered, glad for the change in topic. As he led her around the back of the shack, he couldn’t help but think, _I hope they all get along_. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you for your patience with this chapter!! I'm back on schedule! Kind of. My life is going to be quite busy, so I'll have to start updating every two weeks instead of each week (altho you may get lucky if I crank out a fast chapter... mind you, writing this chapter was like pulling teeth, which is half the reason it took so long T-T).
> 
> Thank you guys again for your unyielding support~ Leave a comment or kudos if you can, and see y'all in two weeks ^-^


	8. Chapter 8

Chapter 8

\------------------------------------

“Is that a pig?” Connie said.

Indeed it was. Waddles was rooting around in the grass for something to snack on, enjoying his free-range pig life to the fullest. He perked up at the sound of human voices, trotting forward to stand in front of Steven.

“Hello Waddles!” Steven greeted as he kneeled down to pet the pig. Waddles leaned into his touch, sitting down with a happy  _ oink _ . “This is Mabel’s pet pig, Waddles.”

“Well aren’t you just adorable?” Connie cooed, crouching down to scratch at his ears. Waddles snuffed eagerly at her hand, curious at all of her new scents. “Aha! That tickles!” Waddles didn’t seem to care, rising to continue to sniff up her arm. He walked around to Connie’s backside, standing up on his hind legs to better investigate her backpack. 

“Whoa!” Connie fell forward at the weight of him, catching herself with her palms on the grass. 

“Waddles! Don’t be rude!” Steven scolded.

“He must want my snacks,” Connie said. Steven lifted Waddles away while Connie dug around her backpack. She pulled out an apple, and Steven could swear that the pig was drooling. 

“A gift,” Connie declared, solemnly placing the apple in the grass. Steven released Waddles, who quickly began munching on the bestowed snack. 

“Why, I do believe Sir Waddles accepts your gift,” Steven bantered, his voice taking on an air of prestige. 

“Peace shall now reign for the next hundred years,” Connie bantered back, her face the perfect picture of poised royalty. Waddles suddenly perked up, listening. The pig grabbed the last half of the apple and scampered off around the bend of the shack.

“Quick! He’s trying to steal the peace offering for himself!” Steven cried dramatically, his facade breaking as he grinned.

“The traitor!” Connie laughed. “After him!”

They both gave chase, Connie sprinting ahead as Steven managed a slow jog. Steven caught up to her at the edge of the second bend, where Connie stood pressed up against the wall, peering cautiously towards the back porch. 

“Connie, what’s—”

Connie stopped Steven mid-sentence, a finger held to her lips. She nodded silently towards the porch. Steven tip-toed over to her position, kneeling down and pressing himself against the wall as he focused on listening. As he leaned towards the edge of the wall, voices drifted from ahead.

“Mabel, this is stupid.”

“No it’s not! How else are we gonna make sure they go through the gift shop?”

“I don’t know, maybe just lead them in there?”

“But that would ruin the surprise, Dipper!”

“Look, I’m sure they’re all caught up by now. I’ll just go get them.”

“Really? You’re going to go interrupt their heartfelt reunion just to—”

“Hey guys!” Steven called, jumping out from behind the wall as if he hadn’t been eavesdropping on his friends. Dipper looked up from the argument while Mabel spun around in surprise, her feet nearly catching on Waddles. 

“Oh hi Steven!” she said a bit too loudly, her nervous smile showing off blue braces. “Did—Did Connie manage to find the place?”

“Yep! In fact, she’s right here,” Steven said. He extended a hand and Connie emerged sheepishly from behind the wall. “Connie, this is Mabel and Dipper.” 

“It’s nice to meet you,” Connie said with practiced politeness, giving a small bow of her head and friendly smile. Mabel’s face lit up with a genuine grin while Dipper’s brain seemed to short circuit for a millisecond.

“Oh my gosh it’s great to finally meet you!” Mabel gushed, bouncing excitedly on her toes. Her eyebrows shot up as she remembered something. “You guys should meet us in the living room for… reasons.”

“Reasons?” Steven said, side-eyeing Connie with a knowing look. 

“Reasons!” Mabel repeated. Instead of explaining herself, she grabbed Waddles and ran off to the gift shop, a mischievous gleam in her eyes. 

“...What she said,” Dipper added. He turned around and dashed after her, calling out, “It was nice to meet you!”

“A surprise, huh?” Connie said, failing to suppress a giggle at the twin’s antics. 

“Looks like it,” Steven said, pointing to the porch. The door to the kitchen (and consequently the side entrance to the living room) had been blocked off, the outdoor couch dragged in front of it. “Want to go find out what it is?”   


“Lead the way,” Connie replied. 

They looped around to the front once more, now approaching the gift shop. The entrance bell jingled as they opened the door, the sound of intermingling voices and a soft music washing over them. Melody fiddled with an old radio at the register, waving as she saw Steven and looking curiously at Connie. After a brief introduction, Steven finally guided them to the “Employees Only” door, slipping in quickly to avoid another batch of customers. 

“Whoa,” Steven said.

The entire living room had been rearranged. The couch and fish tank were shoved up against the dining table, opening up the main area. There, a giant pillow fort dominated the living space, a wonderfully cozy construction of couch cushions, bed sheets, and chairs. Fairy lights twinkled from the ceiling, their dim light only outshined by the glow of a lamp from inside the fort. The ground was covered in blankets and extra pillows, and Steven had to physically stop himself from lying on the floor right then and there. 

“Surprise!” Mabel shouted, emerging from the pillow fort with a handful of confetti. She flopped into the pillow-padded ground. “Ha! Comfy.”

“Mabel! You were supposed to wait for me,” Dipper said as he poked his head out from under the sheets.

“The confetti egged me on,” Mabel said with a cheeky smile.

“Guys this is… awesome!” Steven exclaimed.

“It’s to celebrate a successful mission,” Dipper said. He hopped over his sister, glancing at Connie. “A-and to welcome Connie too!”

“I also think pillow forts cure like, 99% of all diseases,” Mabel said, her face upside down from her position on the floor. 

“Pft, don’t be ridiculous,” Dipper said.

“You never know without testing the theory, right?” Connie interjected. She slipped off her shoes, stepping onto the blankets. “I think a pillow fort is the best way to start a Friday night.”

“Agreed,” Steven said. He kicked off his flip flops and fell into a particularly thick pile of cushions, sighing as he sunk into them. “I’m never moving again.”

“You better if you want some grub,” Stan entered from the kitchen, two pizza boxes in his hands. 

“Pizza!” Mabel cheered. 

“And there’s soup in the kitchen for you kiddo,” Stan said with a nod at Steven. 

Stan placed the pizza boxes and a stack of paper plates in the middle of the floor. Everyone gathered around and grabbed a slice, Steven returning to his pillow pile with his bowl of soup in hand. The teens encircled the TV on the ground while Stan pulled in a chair from the kitchen to sit in. Dipper grabbed the remote and turned on the television, flicking through the channels to find something to watch. 

“I almost forgot!” Connie dropped her pizza slice to dig through her backpack. “Since it was the weekend, I brought a movie.” She pulled out a pale blue dvd case, the title designed out of ice.

“No way!” Steven reached over to grab the case. “My favorite animated musical,  _ Ice Queen _ !”

“Oh my glob, I  _ love _ that movie,” Mabel said, taking another bite of pepperoni pizza. “ _ Let it Snow _ was my fav song for months!”

“I know! You played it aaaaaall the time,” Dipper complained, his grin teasing. 

“That's right! And here it comes again!” Mabel said. She started singing the chorus, standing up to pose with an invisible microphone.

Laughter rang out as Connie and Steven cheered her on, even Stan laughing as Mabel perfectly mimicked the choreography of the movie. The evening sun now completely gone, they started the film, only one string of fairy lights left to shine in the darkness. Connie sat close to Steven, leaning into his pillowy chair as the backstory played.

“You know what?” Steven whispered. 

“What?” Connie whispered back.

“I agree. Pillow forts really do cure all.” 

\------------------------------------

“Three… two… one!”

Two rocks soared across the backyard clearing, bouncing harmlessly off Steven’s hexagonal shield. He held it a few more seconds before it buzzed with static and vanished. Steven flexed his hands, giving a satisfied nod from his cross-legged seat in the grass. 

“How did that feel?” Connie asked. 

“It feels basically normal,” Steven said. “Fizzles out after a couple of seconds though.”

“Okay, so normal but reduced time…” Connie scribbled a few words on a small notepad. She clicked her pen as she reviewed her list. “Shield: check. Floating: check. Strength: check. Speed: check. Everything looks like it's working, but at reduced capabilities.”

“That’s a relief,” Steven said as he leaned back. He waved at Dipper and Mabel. “Thanks again for helping me test out my powers.”

“We may not have alien super powers, but we can throw rocks,” Dipper grinned.

Mabel picked up her fallen projectile, tossing it to herself. “I’m glad your fever broke last night though.”

“Me too,” Steven said. He stood and gave an experimental hop, delighted to find his limbs no longer aching. “I’m still tired, but not nearly as bad as yesterday.” 

“You definitely look better,” Connie remarked as she stashed away her notepad. “But you let us know if you start to feel worse again.” She gave him a pointed look.

“I will, I will!” Steven raised his hands in surrender. 

“You know…” Dipper started. “If you’re feeling better, there is another place I’ve been meaning to check out.” 

Dipper pulled his journal from his vest pocket, the pages flipping past his fingers with practiced ease. He stopped smartly on a page titled “Height Altering Crystals,” a rough sketch of a giant quartz filling the paper. A spotlight of sun fell into the top of the quartz, it’s faceted point refracting the light into two opposite directions. A giant moth decorated the right side, while a miniature deer ran along the left. 

“Ugh, why the crystal?” Mabel said. “You remember how much trouble Gideon made with that thing.” 

“I know, but all of this… gem stuff got me thinking about it,” Dipper fished a pen from his pocket, adding a few darkened lines to the sketch. “I figured Steven could tell us if it was made by aliens or not.” 

“Maybe?” Steven said.

“You are the resident expert,” Connie pointed out.

“The only problem is I found it by accident last time,” Dipper continued. “I know where to start, but we’ll have to search the woods.”

“A hike!” Steven blurted. Realizing he spoke out loud, his face turned sheepish. “I’ve never been hiking in the woods before. Beach town and all that.” 

“But you and Dipper went out into the canyon with Grunkle Ford like two days ago,” Mabel said.

“That doesn’t count,” Steven shook his head. “That was a mission. This is unrestrained summer fun!”

At least, that’s what he thought it would be. Two hours later, Steven was sweating in the summer heat and regretting all of his life choices that led to this point. 

The four of them were deep in the woods next to the Mystery Shack, surrounded by nothing but dense pine trees. Short grass cushioned the forest floor, with only the occasional clump of stubbly underbrush and sapling breaking up the monotony of ruddy bark. Dipper and Connie were reviewing the forest map from Dipper’s journal, while Steven and Mabel continued to search. 

“Why… is it… so… hot!” Steven complained.

“Duh, it’s summer,” Mabel said from atop a moss covered boulder. 

“This is different!” Steven flopped against the base of the rock, wiping sweat off his forehead. “There’s no breeze! It’s just humid and sticky.” 

“Wait, you have summers that  _ aren’t _ humid and sticky?” Mabel peeked over the edge of her perch, her hair a curtain of chestnut. 

“It’s called the ocean breeze, and I miss her so,” Steven lamented. He stood up and removed his jacket, tying it around his waist. Puffing up his chest, Steven steeled himself before charging into the nearest bush with a half-hearted war cry.

“We will find you!” he said as he dug through the limbs, straining for any clues buried among the roots. He popped out the other side of the bush, hands empty and covered with leaves. 

Mabel giggled at his effort and hopped to the ground. Her gaze narrowed as she judged the woodlands before her, pointing a finger in random directions. “Eeny, meeny, miny… moe!” 

Following the direction she had landed on, Mabel set off. Steven shook the twigs out of his hair and went after her. They broke through the tree line into a long clearing, the ground covered in overgrown grass. The river of green cut through the pine like water, the grass blades rippling with the slightest breeze. Steven sighed with relief, stretching his arms out to embrace the open air.

“Hey! A hill!” Mabel pointed down the clearing, where it dipped into a steep slope. “You wanna roll down it?”

“Absolutely!” Steven grinned. 

He ran to the edge of the hill, Mabel close behind him. They faced each other, then ceremoniously flopped backwards into the grass.

“Last one down is a rotten egg!” Mabel said as she rolled away, cackling with glee.

Steven rolled after her, the world spinning into a million shades of green and blue and brown. The dizzying spin made him feel breathless and alive all at once, blending with memories of the grassy cliffside by his home. As he spun and spun, the hill suddenly took a sharp decline, accelerating him towards the base. He spun faster, the ground tossing him from one point to the next until he finally hit flat dirt. Steven laughed as he faced the dense treetops, relishing the dizziness as the world stopped spinning. 

“Oh my gosh Steven, look!” Mabel sat in the grass a few feet from Steven, something dark and small squirming around in her hands. “It’s a tiny—wah!” The little shadow escaped from her hands and dived into her hair.

“Get it out! Get it out!” she shrieked, batting wildly at her head. 

Steven jumped behind her to help, but the small creature avoided his hands every time he tried to grab it. It darted up from the bottom strands of hair, crawling in and out until it latched onto Mabel’s headband. “Hang on, almost—got it!”

Steven held the writhing shape an arms length away to look at it. Fitting neatly within one hand sat a miniature raccoon, it’s teeth bared as it tried to escape his grasp.  _ Aw, poor guy, _ Steven thought sympathetically. He carefully lowered the animal to the ground, releasing it well away from Mabel. It hissed before scampering off into the shadowed undergrowth.

Steven suddenly noticed how dark it was. The trees stood incredibly close, their branches weaving together to block nearly all sunlight. Mabel blew a raspberry at the retreating racoon, startling a pair of deer out of the bushes. This would be normal except for the fact that the deer were five inches tall. 

“All of the animals are so… tiny!” Steven said.

“We must be close,” Mabel said.

There was a sharp  _ crack! _ as a branch snapped, drawing the two teens to look above. Steven’s eyes widened and he grabbed Mabel’s hand, pulling her to the ground. A giant blue jay swooped overhead, it’s talons just missing them. The eagle-sized bird screeched angrily as it missed its target and soared upwards. They both scrambled to their feet. 

“It’s coming back! Run!” Steven shouted. 

Mabel and Steven bolted into the trees, the blue jay diving low behind them. Steven doged left, then right, weaving through the tree trunks as he attempted to lose the territorial bird. A deeply-pitched cry sounded from above, and Steven threw up his shield without thinking. The pink disk glitched but held as the bird dived at him, bouncing it back into the trees. 

“This way!” Mabel called, taking a sudden right. They burst into a small clearing, small beams of sunlight dappling the ground. The monstrous bird followed, it’s flight path locking onto Mabel.

“Look out!” Steven cried as he dove in front of her. His shield blazed to life in between him and the blue jay, a desperate attempt to keep Mabel safe. As the bird closed in, Steven held his breath in anticipation, straining to keep his shield projected—when suddenly the bird shrunk to normal size. It smacked into his shield and flapped rather clumsily to the forest floor. The blue jay squawked plaintively from the ground, seemingly surprised by the sudden change in stature. 

“What the—” Steven allowed his shield to dissipate, staring at the now average sized jay.

“Oh Steven!” Mabel cried. “We found it!”

Mabel pointed to a structure behind him, and Steven couldn’t help but stare. It was a giant, quartz-like crystal, towering nearly eight feet above them. It was made of three different crystalline structures, with the center pillar being the tallest. The blue gem glowed under a steak of sunlight, the facets along the top splitting the light into two colored beams, pink on the right and blue on the left. The pink light fell directly in front of Steven, right where the blue jay had dived at them. Said blue jay let out an angry  _ caw! _ and fluttered back into the woods.

“Size changing crystal, right,” Steven said. No longer in mortal danger, he pulled out his phone and sent their location to Connie. “I’ll check it out while we wait for the others. I mean, this could be a Gem.”

“How could you even tell the difference between a Gem and a mystical crystal?” Mabel wondered. Steven approached the quartz, his fingers glossing over the smooth surface.

“It’s like a… feeling I guess,” Steven said. He traced the crystal’s sharp edges, expression thoughtful. “A Gem has a sense of life, almost like a heartbeat. An earth crystal feels more empty, like I’m just holding a rock.” 

Steven turned and placed both hands on the blue crystal, closing his eyes.  _ Focus on what’s in front of you… block everything else out… _ All outside sound faded into nothing, the hum of the crystal penetrating his skull. He imagined extending himself beyond his fingertips, reaching, listening, grasping—

_ Help. _

Steven jumped back with a gasp, his heart hammering in his chest.  _ Help. _ It was faint, almost non-existent. But someone was calling for help. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hoo-boy, it is taking me longer than I thought to get these up ^^" thank you again for your patience! I'm going to try and stay on schedule as much as possible, but my job is keeping me very busy right now, so I've had very little time/engery to write. It may just be upload when I can, but I will continue to update!!!
> 
> I'm super excited to get things moving again—we'll be seeing more action in the next chapter :D 
> 
> Leave a comment or a kudos if you can, and see you guys soon!


	9. Chapter 9

Chapter 9

\------------------------------------

The undergrowth rustled as Connie broke through into the clearing, Dipper emerging behind her with his journal in hand. She waved at Steven and Mabel, who were sitting in front of the giant crystal. They both waved back, but Steven’s was half-hearted, his eyes constantly flicking back to the quartz behind him. 

“It’s no wonder why we couldn’t find the place,” Dipper muttered as he continued to sketch a map out in his journal. Connie held up her phone for him, the maps app open. He added a few final lines and wrote out the GPS coordinates at the end point. “This thing is deeper in the woods than I remember.”

“How did you guys find it?” Connie asked as she put her phone away.

“Rolling down a hill and getting chased by a giant bird,” Mabel said casually. 

“The normal way of finding these things,” Dipper deadpanned. 

Connie walked up to Steven and placed a hand on his shoulder, giving it a gentle squeeze. “Is everything okay?” Steven reached up and squeezed her hand back with a reassuring smile.

“Yeah, but I heard something when we were checking out the crystal,” Steven explained, his hand now hovering over the blue gem. “I-I heard someone calling for help. I think it was a gem.” 

“The whole crystal is an alien?” Dipper said in awe.

“No, that’s not it,” Steven said with a shake of his head. “The crystal isn’t alive, but I heard the call through it.” 

“Through it…” Dipper echoed, frowning as he thought. He looked at the crystal then down at his notes again, examining the picture. “This crystal… it’s the same shape…” Eyes wide as he pieced together his thoughts, Dipper flipped rapidly to another page in his journal. He turned it around so that everyone could see, revealing printed photos of the strange murals they had found in the Goatman’s cave. 

“Look at the first mural,” Dipper said, pointing at the page. The eerily lit photo stared back at them, the dark red lines forming a quartz-like shape around the gem figure inside. “The shape is the same. It’s a giant crystal. This could be related!”

“Could it be the same crystal?” Steven said. 

“It might be,” Connie pointed at the sleeping form. “This looks like a gem trapped in a crystal. Do you think someone is trapped in this one?”

“That would explain why I heard someone call for help,” Steven mused. His hands brushed the unblemished surface of the crystal once more, it’s body still a clear blue. “But I don’t see anything in this crystal.”

As the three talked, Mabel was distracted by the smaller crystals along the base of the giant one. She poked the top of one, blinking in surprise as it tilted under her touch. She dug around the loose soil at its base and managed to pull it free of the earth. 

“The crystal is growing from the ground,” she said, waving her small specimen in the air. “We can only see part of it right now!”

“Mabel, you’re a genius!” Dipper exclaimed.

“I try,” she bragged. 

Steven kneeled on the ground, scooping the dirt away from the base of the giant crystal. Sure enough, the crystal extended further into the earth. “She’s right! You can see more of the crystal underground.”

“Looks like we’re digging,” Dipper said.

The four teenagers hunkered down and began shoveling dirt away with their hands. As they worked, the wind began to pick up, clouds beginning to block the already scant sunlight. Inch by inch, more of the quartz was exposed from the dirt. Steven pulled a tiny crystal shard out of the way and focused his digging towards the center. One scoop of dirt after the next, a faint glow began to emanate from the earth. His fingertips brushed against the crystal as he worked, pins and needles prickling up his arms as they dug further. _We’re close_. Finally, with one last scoop, a bright light broke through the ground. 

Steven shielded his eyes at the sudden light, blinking as his pupils adjusted. Buried under two feet of earth, a rhombus shaped gem glimmered from within the base of the crystal. It was a mesmerizing half purple, half gold gem, veins of color spidering out from it and dispersing into the blue quartz. Steven reached out, his hands touching the outer surface of the crystal prison.

_Help me._

“I heard it again,” Steven said, his heart clenching at how soft and sorrowful those two words sounded. “We have to get her out!”

“We will,” Connie assured him. She crouched down next to him, examining the base. “This whole crystal might be gem tech. Look at the stonework at the bottom.” 

Stone edged the base of the crystal, white slabs carved into smooth rectangles. Mabel and Connie dug out a few more inches of dirt, exposing etchings and a ceramic plate. Dipper snapped a photo with his digital camera, squinting at the glossy plate. 

“Is that a control panel?” he asked.

“It looks familiar,” Steven said. He brushed dirt off the ceramic surface, placing his hand on it palm down. “Let me—”

There was a tug in his gut and Steven’s aura flared intensely, pink static flowing from his arms into the panel. He jumped back with a cry of surprise. The stone panel clicked and whirred, the ceramic plate glowing with a series of rose colored symbols. The purple and gold veins flowed back into the Gem, and it rose to the surface as if floating through water. The giant crystal lost it’s glow, blue fading into clear quartz. 

All of them stared at the now-free gem, too startled to move. Steven shook his head as if to shake off his fear, steeled himself, and approached. He reached down and gingerly lifted the gem off the crystal.The diamond shaped gemstone filled his palm, it’s surface warm to the touch. 

_Thank you_.

Then silence.

“I think she’s sleeping,” Steven said as he rejoined the others.

Connie drew closer, bending down to see better. “I’ve never seen a yellow and purple gem like that before.”

“Me neither,” Steven shrugged. Mabel and Dipper crowded close, Dipper already writing notes in his journal. 

“A _living_ alien,” he chuckled in disbelief. “ _So,_ much cooler than dead ones.” 

“Living is a nice perk,” Mabel grinned. “I can’t wait to meet her!” ****

_**…………..Oh, that won’t be necessary…………..** _ ****

Steven whipped around, his eyes scanning the forest. _Who said that?_ The voice was familiar… The dream! Steven had heard this voice in his dream the day he woke up sick. It was deep and distorted, the underlying tone filled with malic. He thought he had heard it in his mind, but the others looked around in confusion, searching as well. 

“Who’s there?” Dipper called, pointing a flashlight into the trees. The light landed on a bird hidden in the branches, it’s beady eyes staring at the teens. 

“I think…” Steven squinted, recognizing it’s color. “I think it’s the same blue jay from earlier.”

The disheveled bird hopped down to a lower branch, pausing to peck at the wood but never looking away from the gem in Steven’s hand. It tilted it’s head left, then right, opening its beak to squawk again.

**_I’ll take that off your hands now._ **

There was a flash of teal and the jay dived directly at Steven. He tried to bring his shield up, but it only held for a second before flickering out. No one could move fast enough as the blue jay snatched the gem from Steven’s hand. 

“No!” Steven cried. 

The jay landed amongst the branches, staring at it’s prize with vivid teal eyes. **_My, my, what a strange key you’ve unearthed for me._ **

“Let her go!” Connie shouted at the bird. She wielded a collapsible baton, pulled from her pack as soon as danger arose. “She’s not a key, she’s alive!”

 **_Alive or not, it could certainly be the key to entering this wretched dimension._ ** The bird caught sight of Dipper and Mabel and tilted it’s head curiously. **_Ha!_ ** The jay hopped through the branches, landing close above their heads. **_And who’d have thought I would have my old enemies to thank._ **

“Old enemies?” Dipper repeated. He glared at the bird, stepping closer to Mabel. “Is Bill behind this?”

 **_Bill—_ ** the jay stiffened, it’s eyes flashing violet **_—IS DEAD!_ **Steven covered his ears, the sound rattling his eardrums. The bird huffed a few breaths as it’s eye returned to a steady teal. It turned the gem over in it’s foot, watching the colors shift in the dim light as it collected it’s thoughts. 

**_He’s gone, but I will finish his work._ ** Birds couldn’t smile with cruelty, but Steven could see the expression on the jay’s features. **_And there’s nothing you can do to stop me._ **

The blue jay flapped its wings, preparing to take off. Steven didn’t thinkㅡhe just ran. He took a flying leap upwards, weightless for a moment. Everything seemed to move in slow motion as he stretched his arm out, the gem inches from his fingers. Then the horizon shook as a spike of pain bit at his skull and his form crackled with static. His stomach dropped as gravity took hold once more. He fell back down to the earth, the bird jeering as it disappeared into the trees. 

“Steven!” Connie cried, running to his side. Steven sat up in a daze, his head whipping upwards as he realized the bird was gone. 

_I’ve failed her._ His cheeks burned red, tears pricking at the corners of his eyes. _She trusted me to help and I let her get stolen away.  
_

_\------------------------------------_

Steven walked with his arms crossed in front, staring at his shoes with every step. Guilt sat heavy on his heart. He should have saved her. He’s the one with the alien powers and a lifetime of training; he should have been able to save that gem. He’d done it dozens of times. How could he fail now? His eyes burned but he refused to let his tears fall—he’d worried everyone enough already with his powers glitching out. 

_At least like this, I can’t lose control_ , he thought bitterly. Tired and with powers spent, his cheeks only flushed red and his hair stayed dark as night as his emotions rolled like a storm inside. Everyone else didn’t look much better—Connie kept her baton out as if to make up for her lack of action, even though the jay threatened them no more. Mabel and Dipper walked closely together, furiously discussing who the bird was in hushed tones. Unease settled over them like a cloud, and Steven walked through a haze until the Mystery Shack finally came into view. 

Dipper and Mabel went inside to tell Ford what happened, still desperately trying to puzzle out the bird’s identity as they hurried through the door. 

“I’m going to wash up,” Steven muttered. Connie slowly put away her baton, her eyes as tired as Stevens.

“Good idea,” she said quietly. “I’ll see you in the gift shop.” They parted without saying goodbye, their minds too full to speak. 

Steven grabbed a fresh pair of clothes and beelined for the bathroom. The water hissed against the shower curtain as Steven turned it on. Turning back to the sink, Steven caught sight of his reflection: twigs in his hair, bags under his eyes, his face devoid of any expression. 

“Why couldn’t… why couldn’t I save her?” he whispered. His reflection offered no answer. Steven didn’t hold back when the tears began to fall. 

\-----------------------------------

Steven sat in the Mystery Shack gift shop, laying down under a circular rack of green t-shirts. He stared at the ceiling, his insides still sour from the afternoon’s events. _She was right in my hands_ . He brought his palms in front of his face. _But I messed up_. His hands dropped onto his eyes, but there were no more tears to shed. He sniffed, rubbing his eyes anyways. From outside the shirt rack, a pair of pink and white tennis shoes stopped near his feet.

“Steven…?” 

Connie pushed her way between the densely packed shirts. She hunkered down next to Steven, pressed close in the open center of the shirt rack. Steven lifted his arms over his face, feeling too guilty to speak. They sat in silence, neither wanting to talk first.

“...it wasn’t your fault you know,” Connie finally said. 

“Yes it was!” Steven shot up. He pulled at his hair in frustration, angry with himself. “I literally had her in my hands! A-and then I messed up and let that thing get away with her.” 

“I was right there too!” Connie shot back, her voice bitter. She looked abruptly at her shoes, ashamed of her own outburst. “I could have jumped in at any second but I wasn’t fast enough. All that training for what?” 

“Connie…” 

“It’s selfish for you to hold all the blame to yourself,” Connie murmured. She slipped her hand into his, her eyes gentle again. “We all feel bad after what happened, but I’ve gone over it dozens of times… I don’t know if we could have done anything more.” 

Steven met her gaze, feeling the weight of her words calm the guilt rising in his chest. _My gem’s on the fritz. I had already used my powers a lot._ Maybe it wasn’t a mistake. Maybe they just got outmaneuvered. It just hurt so badly that he had been the one to let her go.

“I just can't believe I lost her,” Steven said. 

“We’ll find her,” Connie promised. “We will.” 

“We will,” Steven repeated. 

“Good,” Connie smiled. “Now get out of this t-shirt hovel!”

She gave him a playful shove into the shirts. Steven fell clumsily out onto the gift shop floor with an _oof,_ but his face popped up with a soft smile. Connie stepped out on two feet, stepping over Steven’s splayed limbs. 

The windows were dark, the sun having set long ago. Dipper and Mabel sat hunched over Dippers journal, Mabel pausing to wave at the last customer as Melody locked the door behind them. As she turned back towards the register, the door rattled with a _smack!_ Steven sat up to see Soos in the window, a dazed look on his face. Melody quickly unlocked the door.

“Soos!” she scolded as she pulled him inside. “Why didn’t you just come through the shack?”

“Sorry dudette, I was too excited about the news!” Soos said. He adjusted his skewed fezz, his grin wide as could be. “Can we tell them? Can we tell them?”

“Well…” Melody looked over the curious eyes of the gathered teens, her own smile beginning to peek at the corners of her mouth. “Alright. Go get dumb and dumber, and we’ll share the news.” 

Soos squealed with delight and ran into the house. It wasn’t long before he returned with Stan and Ford in tow, Stan looking grumpy and Ford bemused. Steven gathered close to the checkout counter with Connie, the twins jumping on top to sit. Soos cleared his throat as he stood next to his girlfriend, his face suddenly serious. 

“Dudes and dudettes of the household, we have gathered you to share important news,” he announced. He turned towards Melody, who was beaming ear to ear.

“I’m… pregnant!” Melody revealed. Voices overlapped as the room erupted in delight, everyone crowding close with various _congratulations_ in the air. Steven felt any remnants of his sour mood vanish; a baby! How wonderful! And he was one of the first people she told!

“Oh my gosh!” Mabel cried, her hands clapping to either side of her face. “I’m going to be an aunt. Oh my gosh!!”

“How can you be an aunt if we’re not related?” Dipper teased.

“In _spirit_ ,” Mabel corrected. 

“You can be called aunt Mabel,” Melody laughed. 

Mabel gasped at the honor, falling back onto the counter with stars in her eyes. “ _Aunt Mabel_ ,” she whispered, her voice heavy with awe.

“Congrats again!” Steven said, his smile wide. “When did you find out?”

“A few days ago,” Soos spoke up as Melody fussed over the twins. “I wanted to tell you guys right away, but Melody thought it would be best to wait until things calmed down.”

“Also,” Melody interjected. “Because we wanted to invite all of you to a cookout tomorrow afternoon to celebrate!”

“That’s right!” Soos said. “We’ll be closing the shop early, cookin’ hamburgers, the whole nine yards.”

“You better not set the grill on fire again,” Stan commented dryly. Steven laughed as Soos looked sheepish. He remembered the first time he had set the beach grill on fire as a kid. Garnet punched the tiny thing into the ocean before his dad even realized it had caught fire. 

“Well—anything you need tomorrow—I can help out with,” Steven offered. 

“I call decoration squad!” Mabel added. 

As Mabel divided out duties, Steven felt a sense of calm. His gem was glitching, the world could be ending, but here they were, planning a small party to celebrate a new life. _I guess that’s how we make it through the crazy_ , he thought to himself. _Finding those things to celebrate, no matter how small._

\------------------------------------

The next morning, Steven was outside prepping the grill. He poured the charcoals into the basin of the grill, shaking the bag carefully so as not to overload it. Connie helped Mabel hang a colorful banner with the words “PARTY TIME” printed on it, while Dipper was inside helping Ford and Melody prep the food. Soos laid out plastic tablecloths on a few picnic tables, Stan securing them each with tape. 

“Hey Steven!”

Steven looked up to see Ford leaning out of the backdoor. He quickly dusted off his hands and joined the elder man on the porch. 

“The mechanic just called,” Ford said. “They finally figured out what’s wrong with your car, but he wanted to talk it over with you before he started.” Steven nodded, the barest hint of anxiety bubbling up in his chest. _I hope it’s not serious._ Ford looked around the yard, catching sight of Stan.

“Stan!” Ford called. “Drive Steven to the mechanic.”

“Whaaaat?” Stan drawled, bringing out his old man crankiness to the fullest. “But I’m busy setting the tables. You take him!” 

“It’s no problem,” Steven started. “Maybe Soos can—”

“The tables are done,” Ford argued back, ignoring Steven’s mitigation. “And I’m still helping with the food.” Stan frowned, squinting at his brother as he tried to come up with another excuse. 

“Besides, you know Mike better than me,” Ford smiled, honing in on Stan’s weakness. “I’m no good at cutting deals with him.” 

Steven could physically see Ford’s words work on Stan. The elder man drew himself taller at the praise, straightening his black beanie as if it were a captain’s hat. 

“I _am_ the best negotiator in the Northwest,” Stan said humbly, a crooked smile on his face. Steven chuckled at his turn of mood. _No wonder he owned a tourist trap._

“C’mon kid! I don't want to miss out on the grub,” Stan called, already turning the corner of the shack. Steven gave a quick wave to Ford before hurrying after his twin. 

Stan beeped the horn of his old station wagon, the engine already running. Steven jumped in the front seat and they drove into town. Steven leaned close to the window, his eyes glued to the passing scenery. An abandoned lot sat next to a quiet car dealership, a balding salesman yawning as he entered the building. Pine trees filled the roadside until a diner appeared in its own cut of gravel parking lot. The building road on a permanently moored railroad car, the sign spelling out “Greasy’s Diner” in cursive lettering. _That’s where I would have made my phone call_ , Steven realized. And yet, here he was, making new friends and discovering crazy things all because of a casual offer to stay the night. Now that his car was going to be fixed… did that mean he had to leave? Did this adventure have to end so quickly? His anxiety bubbled up faster. _I don't want to leave, but how could I impose on their kindness even more?_

Steven didn't get to finish that train of thought as they pulled up to the mechanic. Stan walked into the shop without pause, Steven following more hesitantly. Tools and tires lay strewn about, a rusty pickup truck parked in the first vehicle bay. Steven saw a large wall of motor oil, power tools charging, but no mechanic on duty. 

“Mike!” Stan shouted, making Steven jump. “Mike, where are ya?” 

“Who’s yellin?” a gruff voice mumbled. Wheels rolled across concrete and a man popped his head out from under the truck. His eyes were hidden by dark, bushy eyebrows and a face that was more wrinkles than skin. He rolled out from under the truck on one of those flat roller seats ( _Dad calls them creepers!)_ and wiped the grease from his hands as he sized up his guests. 

“Miiiiiiike!” Stan said with a wide smile. “How are you? The mustache is looking great!”

The mechanic—Mike—didn't react to the flattery, stoically shoving a piece of gum into his mouth.

“....Right. All business,” Stan backtracked. He cleared his throat. “This is Steven. He’s here to see you about his car.” 

Mike slowly turned his head to Steven, one hand running through his salt-and-pepper hair as he mulled over Stan’s words. He nodded. “Yes, the blue Londa O-chord. Right this way.” He led them around a wall of toolboxes, revealing Steven’s little sedan in the second bay. 

“Lando!” Steven said at the sight of his car. As much as he dreaded parting ways with his new friends, he had also missed his car. They had bonded during his months on the road, darn it! 

“Lando?” Stan repeated. “You named your car?”

“You don’t?” Steven said. “What's the fun in that?”

“Ha! Like I'd ever tell you the name of my car,” Stan replied, trying to act smart.

“So you _do_ have a name for your car,” Steven grinned deviously.

“Uh,” Stan paused, looking for an out. “Mike! What's wrong with the car?” 

Mike removed gunk from his left ear, unperturbed by their discussion. “Basically, the power manager in the engine is fried. I can replace the part but it's a pretty expensive part, and it’ll cost more to install it.”

“...how much?” Steven asked hesitantly.

“About $800 total,” the mechanic answered without pause. 

Steven would have fallen to the floor right then and there if not for his sense of common decency. Why were car repairs always so expensive!? He could do it, but he’d have to bother his dad for money again. Steven didn't want to do that; it would feel like losing. He was supposed to be his own, responsible adult on this trip. Asking his dad for money felt like such a cop out. 

“C’mon Mike, be reasonable,” Stan cut in. “Does this kid look like he has $800?” Steven smiled sheepishly, but the mechanic didn't react. 

“Look, I'll cut you a deal,” Stan said. “That’s a 1954 Ferd truck, right?” Mike’s mustache twitched. _Was that a smile?_

“Yup, the only one in Gravity Falls,” Mike said proudly. 

“You know, I have parts for that model. My brother found a few throughout the years. You still looking for parts?” Stan continued.

“Might be lookin’ for a few here and there,” Mike admitted. 

“She’s a real beauty. She'd look even better running,” Stan said, sounding genuinely sad that the truck was stuck in the shop. He side-eye Steven before going in for the kill. “I'd be willing to let go of a few parts of you cut us a deal on the kid’s car.” 

Steven’s eyes widened in surprise. Was Stan—the grumpy conman who had to be convinced to even drive Steven out here—helping him? Not even with a little favor but by giving up valuable car parts.

“It depends on the parts…” Mike muttered.

“No problem! How about we discuss it in your office?” Stan said, throwing a wink back at Steven as he ushered the mechanic into a small corner office.

Steven hopped onto the hood of his car to wait. Bored, he began counting the number of collectable oil cans decorating the walls. He got to eighty-nine cans before the door of the office opened again, Stan laughing with the mechanic as they left. 

“The deal is sealed Steven!” Stan said. He turned back around as he led Steven out of the shop. “I’ll give you a call about those parts Mike.” 

“I’ll be waitin’ for it!” Mike called after him.

As Stan started the car, Steven asked, “What did he say?”

“I’ll be trading him a couple of parts to cover the cost,” Stan said. 

“What! But that’s—I could never let you—” Steven sputtered.

“Relax kid!” the elder man said. He pulled out onto the street, his crooked grin returning. “Ford always has spare parts laying around, and I charged Mike extra.”

“I _have_ to repay you somehow,” Steven insisted. Stan glanced at him from the corner of his eyes, his eyebrows rising in contemplation. 

“Thought you might say that,” he mused, taking a rather sharp turn. “How’s this: You help Melody out by taking that open part-timer position they need, and I’ll count that as your repayment.” 

“But—” 

“That’s the deal kid,” Stan said firmly. He frowned, as if he tasted something sour. “I hate to admit it, but Melody doesn’t need to be working full time right now. Do me a favor and help her out.” 

Steven wanted to argue more. How could he possibly work long enough to cover the cost of an $800 car repair? Then again, if he refused then he’d have to ask his dad for help, which felt even worse. At least by taking the part-time job he could put in the work to repay Stan’s help. It certainly would ease his fears of being a free-loader, or having to leave the Shack early. And Melody… Stan was right. Now that she was pregnant, she’d have to take some time off. What better way for Steven to help than to step up and take some shifts at the Mystery Shack?

“If it’s to help Melody out…” Steven finally said. Stan gave him a hearty clap on the shoulder.

“That’s right!” Stan said, his smile returning. “And if you ever tell Melody I said that, I will personally leave you stranded in the woods.” 

Steven laughed. “I won’t tell a soul.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Who could the bird be? Who could it be? I won't tell (yet!), but I'm interested to hear your theories ;D
> 
> Thank you to those who have subscribed to this story, and hello to the new readers! I hope you enjoy this crossover journey as much as I am. 
> 
> Leave a comment and a kudos if you can, and see you guys soon!


End file.
